Hidden in This Thing Called Life
by thesuspectingheroine
Summary: In a country filled with magic, Helios used to be a grand school with many students coming from all over to attend. However, it is now an antique school, students only going for the sake of family tradition. This is a modern day story with the allures of magic, secrets and a bit of a love story.
1. Prologue

Magic lives in everything. Ranging from humans to the forest to the ground to the sky, it surrounds us in our daily life. How exactly it came into being is unknown, but its creation has been known since the beginning of mankind. Humans used magic to evolve and those with such abilities are called Magicians. The magicians protected those who were weaker with a sense of pride. That was how society was, the Magicians protected the weak and the weak created to better the lives of millions. Now in modern time, there are technology that flows along side magic.

There are many schools that furthered the lives of magicians and the inventors but one widely known Academy was Helios. Keyword being was. Helios has gone through unfortunate luck and is not as acknowledged anymore even with the rich sending their kids there for the sake of tradition. However, this is about to be changed. The twist of fate that changed the lives of not only Helios and its students, but the world, starts with one fifteen year-old boy that went by the name, Rood Chrishi.

"Absolutely not! What the hell were you thinking, just enrolling me in a school without my permission?!" Rood's rage was evident on the smaller boy's face as he stared at his brother, his fists clenched. He stood in front of his brother's desk, papers scattered everywhere.

"It will be a good experience for you! You will make a bunch of friends, learn new things, and have fun! You will enj-" Kielnode stood up and walked around the desk but was quickly cut off by his younger brother who grabbed his bag of stuff off the table that was between two couches facing each other.

"No! This is it. Thank you for taking care of me for all these years, I think I will manage perfectly fine without you." He looked at Kiel stoically ignoring the horrified look he was given.

"After all these years I took care of you and loved you? Absolutely not, I can't live without you!" Kiel cried as he grabbed the blonde haired boy's hand on his chest who scowled in return at the drama queen standing before him. Ren Bastola, their neighbor and friend chose that moment to walk in and she sighed.

"What weird things are you two doing again..." She looked at them exasperated and put a hand on her hip.

"Is now really the time to be doing this? You have a bunch of paperwork you need to be doing." Kiel gave a little pout and let go of Rood who gave a little huff and crossed his arms.

"Apparently not enough if he was able to enroll me in a high school! I don't need to go to school when I can learn here at home. I don't need friends either, I've done perfectly fine so far without them. Tell him that I don't need to go."

Ren gave another sigh and shook her head.

"I agree with him and I helped with enrolling you too. I think it's a good experience for you as well. It won't hurt to try."

This time, it was Rood's turn to sigh and his shoulders dropped in defeat.

"Since I don't exactly have an opinion in this matter, there's no more point of complaining." He said, but not before giving his older brother a glare. Rood scowled to himself and threw his bag onto the couch. He stomped out of the room with a huff of annoyance.

Shicmuon sat in front of his father, or as he so kindly calls him, old bastard. His seemingly eternal scowl was on his face and his arms and legs crossed. He glared at the smiling man, Lanoste, who was sitting in a leather chair, a replica to Shicmuon's chair. The room seemed to be empty with the wide space, filled with only the two chairs and a table between them as well as a couple flora spread across the room. The silence filled the room, only being interrupted but the slight shuffle that came from Van as he shifted from foot to foot.

"Why." Shicmuon's tone was clearly displeased, his annoyance growing as the man in front of him sat there unfazed by his glare. It amused Lanoste, the glare.

"Because your mother had talked about how much she wanted to see you in school. You need some friends, you must be lonely" He said with a laugh yet carefully observing Shicmuon's reaction. In return the young man in front of him reacted accordingly to his expectations. Shicmuon tenses at the mention of his deceased mother, as well as his eyes widening ever so slightly. After all, Lanoste never mentioned her previously so why start now?

"Fine." Shicmuon said with a tsk.

Dayner looked at her husband, her chest is as heavy as her worries for her youngest son weared her down. She stood behind him as Deloan watched the trees blow in the wind from in front of the window.

"Do you know that at Helios they call him a monster? Is there nothing we can do?" The silence stirred for only a moment after she spoke quietly but stilled quickly after. Her husband did not stir or acknowledge that he heard anything.

Lidusis's smacked against the wall as he was shoved roughly into it. His brother stood over him, his cold glare seemed to drill a hole in the gray haired boy's heart. The newly formed bruise was not alone as it shared the poor child's body that was littered with plenty more.

"Why are you still here. I told you not to come back here, you monster." Dirod said with icy words. His older brother gave no warmth and Lidusis made sure to never let his eyes meet the others. He quickly apologized and attempted to get back up before he was slammed back in the wall.

"I didn't say you could speak to me, monster." Lidusis quietly picked up his notebook and scuffled away from his cold brother and his friends that laughed at the gray haired boy's pain.

Although his chest clenched and tears welled up behind his eyes, he quickly shoved the feelings down. Crying wouldn't change anything and he didn't want his mother to worry either.


	2. Rood's Introduction to Helios

His bags were already sent to Helios before him so Rood walked to the Academy with only the clothing on his body. His blonde hair shifted slightly in the wind as he observed the vast campus in front of him only still halfway through a massive garden. Flowers bloomed everywhere as many different kind you could think of in all the colors of the rainbow. The entrance by itself was large, the Main Building standing opposingly in front of him. On the front in large letters was the name the name "Helios."

"...How am I supposed to get around this place without a guide." With a sigh, the blonde haired boy started walking to the building when he noticed a blue-haired boy sleeping at the base of a tree. Rood quickly decided to ask for the boy's help as he had the same level uniform as he did. The stones crunched underneath his feet as he walked towards him.

"Excuse me." Rood said politely to the sleeping boy. 'Should I wake him up….? Classes might start…' He bent down on his knees and spoke louder.

"Excuse me." But to no avail. The boy in front of him continued to snooze in front of him, his chest rising and lowering in front of Rood.

"...Maybe the classes will start soon…?" Rood said absentmindedly and to his surprise the boy in front of him snapped awake.

"W...what… WAIT WHAT?! I HAVE TO GO!" The blue haired boy quickly got up and tried to run off when to his surprise, Rood quickly grabbed the back of his jacket. There was a momentary choked sound as the boy quickly backed up to get his air back. He looked at Rood while holding his neck, his eyes only slightly watery. Rood in reply let go of his jacket

"Wh-what was that for?" He pouted a little as Rood looked at him calmly.

"Can I ask for your help to find my way to my classes? I'm afraid I'm lost." The boy blinked at him and realized that he hadn't recognized him.

"Eh? I haven't seen you before! Wait, are you the rumored new student?! THe person who got a perfect score on the Admission and haven't been at school because of an illness?!" The boys eyes seemed to sparkle, his hair blowing slightly in the wind with Rood's mimicking the same.

"Yeah….wait. What?!" Rood frowned confused as he had no knowledge of taking the admission exam much less passing with a perfect score.

"It's so nice to meet you! My name is Dio Varus!"

"Ah… I'm Rood Chrishi."

"Do you mind me calling you Rood?" Dio asked him cheerfully, a bright smile on his face.

"Sure." As Rood looked at the school, the boy in front of him remembered why the other woke him up.

"C'mon! Let me show you the way!" Dio quickly turned to the main building and started walking quickly to their destination. Rood followed him, absentmindedly wondering why he picked such a strange boy to help him find the way to the school.

As the duo walked past a plentitude of trees and flowers galore, they went inside a side door of the main building. A bell rang and Dio frowned.

"That was the late bell… I'm sure Professor Khan will understand if I'm guiding the new student to class!" The frown quickly faded and the blue-haired boy grinned pleased as he walked to their class. Once they got there the Professor looked at the two, having stopped his beginning of the day.

"Dio, may I ask why you are late?" Khan asked the blue-haired boy patiently.

"I was escorting the new student to our room!" Dio said cheerfully, his grin practically lighting up the whole room. Khan then notices the smaller boy behind him and nods.

"So you have. I won't count you late this time but do try to stop being late so much yes?" The brown-haired professor smiled at the now blushing boy as the whole class laughed. Dio gave an awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yes Professor." As Dio walked back to his seat, Rood walked to the teacher calmly. The students whispered to their friends as they watched the small boy from their seats.

"He's younger than I thought."

"I wonder how old he is."

"He seems the adorable and cute type!"

"I know right?!"

"He's so amazing, getting a perfect score!"

Rood observed the class when he noticed a gray haired boy, his face partly covered by his long hair. The boy avoided looking at anyone in his secluded seat, reading the textbook he had in front of him. He didn't lean over his seat to speak to anyone nor did anyone try. Rood couldn't help but notice how the boy had a divide between himself and others.

"Now everyone, this is our new student Rood Chrishi. He will be joining our class this second semester. Mr. Chrishi you can sit anywhere you'd like." Rood nod and ignored some of the students who waved to him and sat next to the quiet boy. The room hushed instantly and Rood looked around curiously and noticed them all looking at the boy next to him. Rood looked at the boy next to him and read the name on the textbook. Lidusis Dien Artian. The shy boy quickly picked up his book to hide his face. Rood raised an eyebrow when he realized that the book was upside down. The tension was quickly cut when Professor Khan started talking.

"Now everyone, as today is the beginning of our new term, so let's all get along! We need to be motivated and work intelligently so let's start this semester off great!" He spoke to the class, the tension dissipating as he smiled cheerfully. The student's shoulders relaxed all except for Dio who looked back at Rood worriedly

"I would like to inform the class of some events that will be happening this have the national school wide competitions that the school has decided to join. There will be chosen students for this event. Ten Hereis, ten Klad and five Idun. This means that if some of you excel you might be able to join the competition! I hope that some people from our class can join even if just one. Students will be chosen depending on their marks and athletic marks as well." The professor spoke calmly to the class and most of them spoke excitedly about the competition.

"And everyone," Professor Khan said while waiting for everyone's attention. " Please don't bully Mr. Chrishi as he is someone who has been homeschooled his whole life because of an illness!" There were murmurs of agreements, Rood was silently fuming and imagining ways of killing his older brother.

The bell rang loudly and the students quickly started to gather up their things and chat with their friends. A group got up and walked over to Rood excitedly, trying to talk to him but were quickly interrupted by Dio.

"I got a request from the teacher to show you around since I led you to class!" He beamed at Rood who was relieved for the strange boy's interruption. Rood nodded quickly and got his things. He looked to the side and noticed that Lidusis was nowhere in sight. Dio noticed the curious looked and made a mental note to tell him to stay away from the boy.

The duo walked down hallways, their first stop was the library. As Rood stepped in, he looked up to see multiple levels of books and shelves lining the walls as well as in rows. In the middle there were tables with students sitting in them, studying or doing classwork. In the exact middle there was an orb that glowed a deep blackish purple color that kept out sound for the tables that surrounded it in a circle. Dio walked further in ward and pointed out sections as well as the fact that some levels, only the Hereis have access to and at the very top, only teachers had access to.

"I didn't realize you could remember all this considering you were sleeping in class." Rood said staring at Dio with a blank face, his eyebrows slightly raised in surprise.

"Hey!"

The next place they stopped at was the cafeteria, a large room with tables lining the room in rows as well as multiple lines for one to choose food from. Dio's stomach growled and he scratched the back of his stomach and quickly went to buy a sandwich.

"Is the only reason we came here was to get food for you?"

"No!"

Once again they left the large room filled with people to go to a lab. Dio then explained after he was done pouting, that this is where many experiments are created and attached to the room was where people would build machines. The first part of the room there were tables of vials, liquids in them and some empty. The other part of the room had clear tables with the exception of those with people at them, machines being worked on that ranged from small objects to large. There were tools lining the room to where it met the other part of the room where lab equipment such as a microscopes along with a cabinet of chemicals.

"I suppose you never visit here." Rood said looking at Dio through the corner of his eyes.

"I don't but how did you know that?"

"You don't strike me as the person to understand any of this."

"Hey! That's mean…" Dio pouted once again. How could the new student be so harsh. Honest and right, but rude.

They walked outside to another building that was just as large as the main building maybe even larger. The duo walked through a hallway with multiple doors attached to large rooms. Each room had a see-through glass that let you observe the people inside. The first room had practice weapons varying from swords to guns on one side, and magic orbs and other magical items on the other side. In the next room there was a smaller room you had to walk through first. In the small room there was complicated machinery that Dio explained was to create virtual demons that you could fight. As they kept walking, there were virtual rooms for playing different kinds of sports as well that were set up to the sport's setting. Then the duo got to the section where there was an obstacle course with ropes hanging from the ceiling, rock walls, rope ladders and many other things to help increase stamina. The room was large but here was an even larger room at the end of the hall that had different natural settings such as a forest, a desert and even a small beach.

"Who gives this school money for this stuff." Rood asked confused.

"A lot of nobles send their kids here so I imagine that's where. I don't think I've been this far since we had the tour in the beginning of the year!" Dio said happily.

"I figured."

"Huh? What is that supposed to mean? Rood? Rood?!" Dio asked confused before pouting as he realized what the new student meant.

"I train…" Dio huffed.

"Yeah, in sleeping." Rood said with a soft snort while he shook his head, thinking back to the time he saw Dio sleeping behind the textbook during class.

They walked out of the building to the sun starting to set.

"Oh! Has it been that long already? Here! I'll show you to the dorms!" As the two walked to the dorms, another building came into view. While it wasn't as big as the other buildings it was still large compared to a regular building.

"Ah… I forgot to take you there!"

"Where?"

"The theatre! It's a huge hall room! Larger than cinemas!" Dio said happily and walked to to the building, Rood following him. As they looked inside there was a large stage at the end, before the stages were rows upon rows of cushioned seats, above there was another level of seats.

"Here they tell us about the competitions or events and it's so booooooring~. Especially that one time, in the first year they made a festival and there was an event near the end of it. There were people who went on the stage and confessed their love for the person they love in front of them on stage and us the audience. No one confessed to me….." Dio said with a little sob and pout, his shoulders drooping.

"How would you know, you're likely to be sleeping through it. Besides to have someone confess to you would imply that someone had a crush on you which I find hard to see." the blonde haired boy said to the other.

"So mean! Rood, why don't you understand those feelings of staying single?!" Dio said teary eyed, Rood rolling his eyes in response.

"Stop being so melodramatic. Maybe you should get on stage and act. I'm sure you'd be a giant hit. Plus, I'm not interested in a stupid thing nor believe in it, things such as love are illogical and pointless."

"...Rood that's depressing." The blue-haired boy stared at his friend. He shook his head in disbelief and left the building.

"Let's just get to the dorms." Dio nodded in agreement and walked to their destination as Dio chatted about random things. Once they got to the desk, Dio asked the dorm president about Rood's room.

"We don't have an extra room set up yet so if he can sleep with a friend might be for the best." She said politely as Dio grinned and turned to Rood.

"You can sleep with me then!"

"Do I get a choice?" Rood asked the blue haired boy who pouted in return.

"No! Now c'mon!" Dio ran up to his room excitedly when he remembered his mental note from earlier.

"Oh… Rood, if I were you I would stay away from Lidusis Dien Artian if you want a relaxing time at Helios." Dio said looking at his new friend. Rood frowned in reply.

"What? Why?"

"Because the Hereis have him as a target and anyone who gets too close to him will become a target too!" Dio said worried about Rood. Rood thought about it, thinking about the fact that they haven't even awakened yet so what does it matter.

"What a pain, aren't Hereis just a group of rookies who haven't awakened yet?" Rood said and shook his head and watched his friend open the door quietly.

"What are you saying?! Neither are you so don't let them hear you say that." Dio said with a quiet huff and looking at his roommate's bed. Only a little bit of gray could see from under the blanket that wrapped around the tall boy. Rood made a mental note about the fact that Dio was roommates with Lidusis.

"Rood you can sleep on the bed, I can sleep on the floor." Rood nodded and the two got ready for bed in the dark. Rood gave Dio a pillow and a blanket and the duo went to sleep.


	3. I Do Not Look Like a Damn Hamster

The sun started to shine into the room when Rood woke up. After a second to recollect where he was, he peaked over the bed to look at Dio. The blue-haired boy was sprawled out on the floor with a hand on his partially exposed stomach. Rood rolled his eyes at the drooling boy and sat up in the bed and nudged Dio with his foot.

"Dio wake up." After no response, Rood rolled Dio off of the blanket he was sleeping on. With a whiny noise, the tired boy sat up and looked at Rood.

"I'm up… I'm up… Can I not be up?" He yawned and looked at the pillow longingly.

"No, get dressed I need to ask the dorm president about my room." Dio got up sadly and the two got dressed. Before they left, Rood noticed the empty bed that had held Lidusis last night. Dio noticed the direction of sight and shook his head.

"He's always gone before I wake up. And I told you! Lidusis is dangerous to be around so avoid being buddy buddy with him. Try to change your seat too in class. Rood?" He sighed at the realization that his friend had left without him. He quickly ran out to catch up to him.

"Don't leave me~!" Dio said in a whiny voice as they walked to the dorm president.

"Ma'am , I was wondering if my room was ready yet." Rood asked politely once he caught her attention. She smiled at him nodded.

"Yes, of course! We already have prepared it and delivered your things. Ah, well, your roommate is, um, will be an upperclassman." She seemed slightly worried about the roommate which made the blond-haired boy curious to know what the issue was. Dio, on the other hand, was shocked.

"Wait, an upperclassman? Who!?" Dio asked worried to whom Rood might have been put with. Rood nodded, not caring in the least.

"That's fine. What is the room number?" The dorm president nodded in resignation.

"214."

After getting the room number, the two boys walked to their classroom. Once they walked in, they were stopped by a green-haired girl named Lin Noa.

"Rood? Is it you? The same one who helped my brother?" Lin asked him quietly. At the look of Rood's confusion, Lin spoke again.

"Do you know Ben?"

Rood nodded in confirmation as he remembered the young green haired boy.

"Yes, I do. He's your little brother? Ah! I remember now. Sorry, it's so early in the morning, I guess my brains not awake yet."Rood smiled charmingly and Lin smiled and nodded in response. Before either of them could say any more, or anything at all in Dio's case, the professor came in.

"Everyone, please get in your seats."

Shicmuon stood next to the professor, a scowl on his face along with a dark glare.

"Class, this is Asujen Baldwin. He is a new student that will be joining us this semester. Please be kind to him. Mr. Baldwin, your seat is over there." The professor pointed to an empty seat behind Dirod. The Hereis murmured amongst each other about the handsome auburn-haired man as he walked to his seat.

There were some snickers amongst the boys and one stuck out his leg right as Shic got to him. The professor opened his mouth quickly and tensed as he had heard of the boy's explosive temper.

With a scowl, Shic lifted his foot and slammed it down on the leg with a powerful blow. The boy let out a pained yell and quickly retracted his leg to hold the injured leg, tears coming to his eyes. The boy quickly avoided looking at the auburn-haired boy as he gave him a glare that chilled him down to the marrow in his bones.

It was at that moment that Shicmuon was considered a delinquent by all. Well, no that's not quite right. The girls looked at him as though he was a rare diamond or an angel that dropped from the sky, maybe even the most noble prince that must keep his identity secret! Why most of these girls thought this way was unknown. Hormones probably. How terrifying!

But to those with their minds not clouded by his looks, his scowl and glares unnerved those who tried to look at him. His attitude was harsh and unforgiving, his opinion of anyone was low as if he even gave enough thought to care. Although, rarely did he care enough to create an opinion to begin with.

Dio sat on the grass, happily eating a sandwhich, his face seemingly glowing almost as bright as the sun that day.

"Is food the only thing you will stay awake for?" Rood asked his friend a small smile was on his face when he noticed Professor Khan walk up to him.

"Mr. Chrishi, when you finish eating can you please come to my office? I need to speak to you about something." He smiled politely at the young boy who nodded in reply.

"Yes sir."

"Thank you." Khan gave a polite smile and walked off. The moment Rood finished eating, he excused himself and started walking to the office. What he hadn't realized was that along the way, a meeting that would be the beginning of many things he never expected to happen.

It all started when he saw Lidusis being punched in the stomach. Rood scowled, they were not only in his way to the office, but hurting a boy who had obviously no intentions of fighting back. The pacifist boy let them continue to hurt him. Right as he was about to step in, one of the boys stopped and turned to a person walking by that Rood didn't recognize.

"Ah! It's you! I've heard that you're a delinquent that is considered the strongest. Let's test that why don't we?" He gave a grin and Shicmuon gave a slight glance towards him, the look of disinterest obvious on his face towards the other Hereis.

"What's wrong? Afraid to lose?" The boy smirked, his other friends grinning as well. Shic remained calm as he turned his body towards him, the only thing showing his annoyance was the glare on his face.

"Fine. I'll play with you as you wish but, I'm not responsible for the consequences." He walked towards the two who laughed even still, despite their impending doom.

"Ha! Don't get co-" The boy was quickly interrupted by a sharp kick in the face. The boy falls on his bottom, a foot or two away. The other boy grit his teeth and charged at Shic recklessly. Shic stepped to the side casually and slammed his foot on his back, causing him to slam into the ground. Not once did Shicmuon's hands leave his pockets.

Rood noticed Lidusis picking up his things quickly. He bent down and grabbed one of the quiet boy's books and held it out to him. Much to Rood's surprise, the gray haired boy looked at him through his bangs and quickly ran away. As he watched Lidusis run off, Rood scowled and looked at the book in his hand. It was then that he noticed the third boy charging at him.

"Letting hi-" He was quickly interrupted as the small boy grabbed the front of his shirt, flipping him over his shoulder. The Hereis let an 'oof' escape as his back slammed into the ground. Rood then walked towards the office, without realizing the stare the auburn-haired boy gave him, Shic's interest now aroused.

Rood walked to his room as he thought back to the conversation he had with Professor Khan about his new roommate and if they were causing him problems, to tell him immediately. It made him wonder just exactly who his roommate was. He shook his head and opened the door to his room. To his surprise, he saw someone sitting on the bed in his room, when he got closer his eyes widened at the sight of Shicmuon.

"Wh-why…. Are you… he...re?" Rood looked lost and Shic sets his book on the bed.

"I'm the one who should be asking that question, this is my room." He asked when Rood realized why he was there.

"Perhaps… you're my… roommate." Rood shook his head and turned to his bed and walked to his things. As he pulled pajamas out, Shic's watched him, observing the boy carefully. After Rood went into the living room the auburn-haired boy nodded in confirmation.

Rood frowned when he came out and the older boy was still looking at him.

"...What." The smaller boy scowled at him in annoyance.

"Nothing., you just look like him."

"Him?" Rood frowned, his annoyance matching with his confusion.

"Wait." Shicmuon took out his phone before pulling up a picture and showed it to Rood.

"..."Rood clenched his jaw angrily but tried to keep himself calm. 'Did that bastard just compare me to a hamster?!' The thought ran through his head as his anger rose.

"You look alike. Exactly." Shicmuon said, completely serious. "Or would you choose something else. Do you think you look more like this or a kitten." Not once when he said this, was he joking. Shic meant every word he said, possibly a strange compliment in his own mind.

"G-good night!" Rood said as he attempted to control his anger and quickly went to bed, ignoring Shicmuon. The ignored man was confused as to the anger he heard in the younger boy's voice.

When Shicmuon and Rood walked out of the dorm building, rumors started to spread. The auburn-haired boy muttered under his breath, a scowl on his face, the blond-haired boy equally as annoyed.

"Why do I have to go out with you." The older by grumbled while the younger huffed.

"Ugh… I want to die… This is becoming annoying." Rood grumbled and looked at the whispering students.

"If you don't like it then go away." Just as Shic says this, Dio quickly grabs Roods arm almost out of nowhere and pulls him off to the side. Shicmuon keeps walking, ignoring the lost of his roommate.

"What's going on?!" Dio asked, his voice hushed as though he didn't want anyone to hear.

"Nothing. He's just my roommate." Rood scowled and rolled his eyes at the worried boy.

"He… he doesn't bully you or anything right?! Right?!"

"Calm down, no he doesn't. Why would he?" Rood said confused at the reaction of his strange friend. Dio relaxed at these words and looked at his friend with a pitying look.

"You poor soul, you don't know of the dark side of Helios." The blue-haired boy patted his friend's shoulder, much to the annoyance of said friend.

"Dio, what the hell are you talking about." Rood glared at his friend, his morning becoming increasingly more annoying.

"It's the Hereis! They're the third years, we shouldn't get near them! Rood… You might not know this but…. There are some Hereis that bully us poor Iduns! You have to be careful!" Dio said as they walked into their classroom.

Much to Rood's surprise, the moment he entered the room, he was crowd by most of his female classmates.

"Hey! Hey! Will you tell me who that was?! Who you were with just now?!"

"My god…. He's so handsome and dreamy…!" There were hearts in her eyes, simply terrifying….

"I didn't think Helios had someone so handsome!"

"Tell us!"

"Do you have his phone number?! Or even just his email?!"

"I want all the ways to contact him."

"Would you introduce him to me?!"

"What's his name?!"

"Wasn't he just wearing a Hereis uniform?!"

Rood stood there, leaning slightly away from the hoard of girls. He was hoping this wasn't going to be a daily occurrence but if it was…. He'd probably die any minute.

"Excuse me… Can you let me through?" Rood said already exhausted at the start of the day. Luckily, Dio grabbed his arm and started pulling him through the crowd.

"Thanks Dio." The small boy smiled at his friend and walked to Lidusis's desk. The shy boy kept his eyes down, his hair covering the sight making him not realize the other boys approach.

"Lidusis was it? I have your book you dropped yesterday." Startled, Lidusis looked up at Rood quickly and watched the younger boy place his missing book in front of him. The classroom had become silent as they watched the interaction. Rood waited for the gray-haired boy to pull it towards him but Lidusis made no move to do so. Rood only looked at the other classmates when one decided to speak up.

"Rood… You haven't been here so you don't know, but you really shouldn't talk to the monster." The classmate looked at him worried while Rood frowned in displeasure. Lidusis on the other hand swallowed his tears and tried to pretend that the words he heard everyday didn't hurt.

"Monster? Who, Lidusis? The boy who was so worried two days ago that he didn't realize his book was upside down?" Lidusis blushed at Rood's mention of his book and looked at it. He hesitantly pulled it to him.

"The same boy that willingly lets others call him a monster and beat him up without uttering a single protest? He's not a monster in any sort of way." Rood watched the faces of his classmates, some looking away, others that don't seem to care and others like Lin, who looked down in shame. One of the classmates were going to speak up when Professor Khan walked into the room. The bell rang right at that moment and he smiled at his students.

"Everyone, please sit down. I want to talk to you about our research paper as well as tell you who you're partnered with." Everyone got to their seats quickly, curious to know who they were partnered with.

"In your researches papers, I want you and your partners to look up the beginning stages of awakenings as well as magic spells. I don't care if you talk about the latest or the transformation of magic circles or about the changing of magic circles. Just make sure you don't get off topic."

In a Hereis class, Shicmuon looked at the bright blue sky as he stared out the window. In the background was the teacher talking about high ranking demons.

"And now the partners. I'll ask someone to put a list on the wall in break time. The list will contain the partners. Also, you can partner up with people from other classes, just come and tell me. Let's start our lesson now." Khan said to his class with a smile.


	4. Befriending the Boy Named Monster

Once Professor Khan's class was over, the room filled with chattering students.

"I wonder who will be my partner?"

"I hope I get partnered up with someone smart." The classmate looked behind him at Rood who was lost in thought.

"I want to be with Juli! Maybe He chose us together because we are best friends!" Another classmate spoke up while looking at her friend.

"Hey! The list is already here! C'mon, let's go check it out!" The moment these words were said, a multitude of students got up to go check the list for their partner.

Rood sighed as he looked at the book that Lidusis had left on the desk when he got up to look at the list. ' _He left the book again…'_

"Hey Rood! The list of the partners is out already! Let's go see it! Stop sitting there and being laaaazy!" Dio said, hyper from the nap he took during class when he should have been paying attention.

"You are the last person I want to be called lazy from. Now let's go see the list." Rood replied as he got up from his seat, taking the book with him.

"Yay! I hope I'm partnered up with you since we're friends!" Dio said hoping that his friendship wasn't one-sided.

"I don't care." Rood said heartlessly when the blue-haired boy stopped in front of him suddenly. He bumped into the back of the older boy and looked at him confused.

"Ouch, why did you stop so suddenly?! And why are you covering my eyes?! Dio, what the hell!" Rood stumbled back a bit, his confusion as to why his friend was dragging him out of the classroom was clear in his voice.

"R-Rood! We need to go tell the professor to change your partner! Now!" He dragged short friend, his earlier cheerful demeanor having been replaced with panic. Rood was confused as to his friends panic as no explanation was given to him.

"Geez it's not like I've been partnered with a monster, let go of me for Christ sake." the blonde boy forced the hands away from his eyes, his tone being sarcastic.

"N-NO! You've been partnered with _the_ monster!"

"Lidusis Dien Artian?"

"YES!" Dio confirmed, trying to push his stubborn friend into the classroom. Unfortunately, his friend stubbornly stays put.

"He's not a monster, he's a human. Do you sleep so much in class that you don'[t know the difference?"

"B-but Rood….." Despite his insistence, the smaller boy ignored Dio.

"Annoying." Rood muttered under his breath and walked to Lidusis. The blue-haired boy followed his friend hesitantly. When the smaller boy walked up to the shy boy, Lidusis looked at him nervously.

"We're partners. Let's work together." Rood gave him a smile and help up his hand, waiting for the other boy to shake his hand. Lidusis looked away shyly in a quiet refusal.

""I-it's fine... I can work by myself…."

"I refuse."

Lidusis's eyes widened in surprise at the younger boy's words.

"What if you do it wrongly? I don't know the amount of knowledge or skills you have and I don't want bad marks." Rood spoke persistently, leaving the gray haired boy with the only option of agreeing.

"Alright…" The other boy spoke shyly, looking through his long bangs, left with the feeling of only being able to say yes.

"Good boy." The shorter boy looked up at Lidusis as he smiled. Dio watched wide eyed, his jaw slackened as well. He couldn't help but wonder why Rood said good boy. Was Lidusis a dog?

The classes finally ended and students chattered cheerfully with one another. Lidusis stood out in the courtyard, the bright sun shining on his gray hair with not a cloud in sight, waiting for his research partner.

"Here you are! I was looking for you." Rood walked up to the other boy. He couldn't help but wonder if he had forgotten something.

"Um…. Is… is your roommate going to be in the room…?" Lidusis asked quietly and Rood finally realized what he had forgotten. Why hadn't he remembered that jerk?!

"He might be…." Rood thought about it for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

"How about this, I'll go get my notebook, and yours since you left it again. Then we can go to the library and use the books and computer for our research paper. Does that sound alright to you?" Lidusis nods shyly.

"Okay.. I can wait here."

"No, come with me." Rood didn't want to be alone with that weird roommate of his for as long as he can help it.

"Alright…" Somehow, it was impossible for Lidusis to oppose the smaller boy.

Rood and Lidusis stood in front of room 214, and opened the door.

"We're here let's go insi-" Rood froze when he noticed the person inside and sighed.

"Let's get inside." He walked in and tried to ignore Shicmuon, who had a few of the uniforms buttons undone.

"..." Shic stared at Lidusis silently but didn't move to say anything. Rood looked at him with a frown.

"D-do you have something to say again?" He scowled slightly at the auburn-haired boy who didn't bother to try his curiosity.

"Who's that."

"My friend Lidusis Dien Artian. Lidusis, this is my roommate Asujen Baldwin."

"N-nice to meet you…" The gay-haired boy stood there with a slight blush, looking at the ground shyly as he didn't know what to say in the awkward situation. Especially considering the fact that Rood had called him his friend.

"Whatever." Shic said and left the room, leaving the two Iduns alone. Rood sighed in annoyance and shook his head.

"Ignore that guy. Let's see… the notebooks are here." Rood picked them up and turned to Lidusis.

"Let's go." Lidusis nodded but couldn't help but be curious about the relationship between the roommates of room 214.

' _So thirsty.'_ Shicmuon tsked as he walked down the hall to the nearest vending machine to buy a drink.

"Ah! Mr. Baldwin!" One of the professors of Shicmuon's class called his fake name. Shic turned his head to look at him in reply to the name being called.

"By the way, how is your room? Your roommate is also a new student like you so we thought it would be a good fit. It's a bit rare to have an Idun and Hereis together but please don't bully him," the professor laughed, "He is a chronically ill child and has a weak body as result of that."

Shic looked at the professor curiously. How was he a "weak bodied student" while he was able to flip the upperclass men as he had done previously. Not to mention the older boy was taller than him as well which would have made it even more difficult for the short boy.

"Mr. Baldwin…?"

"Nothing. Everything's fine. And… I found an interesting thing." The auburned-haired boy gave a smirk.

"Eh? Well I hope you enjoy your school life!" The professor smiled and started walking to his destination.

Rood and Lidusis left the room and started walking to the library, the taller boy walking a little bit behind the smaller boy.

"Lidusis walk faster. You're going too slow." Lidusis blushed and hurried to walk next to Rood.

"S-sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"A-ah… so-" The shy boy stopped mid-word before he apologized again.

They walked into the Library and looked around. There were students all over, the quiet sound of clicking coming from the mouse of the computer as well as the keyboard. On the other side were students looking through the different colored spines. Others were flipping through pages, the wind of the pages just slightly affected pushed their hair.

"Here we are. You search through the computer and I will go look at the books."

"But…. the books are more difficult to find information than the computers…. I can look through the books."

"No. I will don't worry about it."

"But… Okay." Lidusis nodded reluctantly at the other boy who he found hard to reject.

It was a couple hours later when the librarian spoke up.

"Everyone, the library is closing so I'm afraid you need to leave."

"Eh? Then how will we finish our paper?" A student complained when his partner looked at him, pushing himself away from the computer in front of him.

"We have until Friday don't worry about it."

"Oh yeah… we can do it Friday and leave tomorrow as a break!"

Lidusis looked at Rood nervously.

"I-I can continue tonight by reading the books…You don't have to do anything."

"No way." Rood replied simply with rejection. Lidusis had no choice but to stay silent.

"Here, you can have some of the books. From my pile." The smaller boy gave him a pile of books while still carrying another large pile of books.

"You search in those tonight while I look through these. Tomorrow we will pile the information we found and give it to the professor after writing it down." Rood gave a smile to the quiet boy who nodded in return.

They left the library and continued to discuss their topic until they reached the dorms and parted.

' _I wonder if we got closer?'_ Rood thought while he walked towards his room.

"Oh." Shicmuon spotted the smaller boy and 'oh'ed to the sight of his younger roommate.

' _Tch, even meeting him on the way back to the room?'_ Rood had tried to avoid this person as much as he can while they were walking on the same path towards the room, silently, as if the duo were complete strangers. As they walked into their room, Rood turned to the taller boy.

"I'm going to do some research in this room so don't be noisy." He said while pointing at the door connected to their room, to Shic who seemed as if he was playing a game on his phone.

"K." The taller boy said, not caring enough to say a whole word. The smaller boy rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked to the room with the books in his arms.

After about 15 minutes, Shicmuon got bored,

' _I'm tired.'_ He walked to the two beds, each on the other side of the room. One looked fluffy and warm, almost like a cloud. The other bed was thick and hard, incredibly uncomfortable looking practically a stone block. It was obvious which bed to sleep on.

Rood stretched as he finally finished his research, books strewn across the floor he was sitting on. He got up and walked to the bedrooms when he stopped in confusion.

' _What the hell?! Why is he sleeping in my bed?!'_ The small boy stood there internally freaking out as he was frozen in spot. When he finally moved he walked to his bed.

"H-hey wake up….! This is my bed, your bed is over there!" He tried to push the older boy and was surprised when he did not budge. He struggled and added more strength but the other just wouldn't budge. Unbeknownst Rood, Shicmuon was lazily awake, pretending to sleep soundly. He was highly amused by the younger boy.

Rood scowled at the other boy. Stubbornly, he laid on the other side of the bed, refusing to let the older man win.

It was another cheerful day, the birds singing, the sun shining, and almost no clouds to be seen. The sun shone through the window on two certain boys that were sleeping.

Rood felt the urge to not wake up. His body was warm and comfortable and he was starting to be lulled back asleep. His eyes fluttered open slightly before snapping wide open as he realized exactly why he was so warm.

Shicmuon, sometime during the night had rolled over and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy. Rood in turn had also rolled towards the boy and snuggled into Shic.

A yelp escaped Rood's mouth as he pushed the older boy away from him with a sharp shove. Shic fell on the ground with a thud, the auburn-haired boy waking annoyed. He scowled at Rood after he sat up.

"What the fuck. I wasn't doing anything wrong. It was comfortable. You were warm too weren't you? You looked like you liked it too." The boy said his face now blank. Rood's face however was flushed bright red.

"Sh-shut up! What is with you…! I'm not a girl I am a guy! I don't enjoy that kinda things!" much to the flustered boy's annoyance, Shicmuon was not paying attention at all. He was holding a teddy bear that was under the bed.

"Whats with the teddy bear. There are guys that like girly things?" The taller boy ignored all the worlds that had been said and he observed the teddy bear carefully.

"I… I just carry him around for personal reasons, it isn't any of your business."

"Girly girl."

"You…!"

"Well I care. Why's it warm." Shic asked and the other boy let out a huff.

"To keep people warm, obviously. Classes are going to be ready in like 15 minutes so I don't have time to be messing with you."

Rood walked into class when he noticed the students crowding around the windows. As he walked closer he listened his classmates.

"That has to hurt…"

"If he wasn't a monster I might've pitied him."

At the mention of monster, the smaller boy pushed his way past the others and looked out the window. Ignoring the disgruntled student he pushed, Rood forced his way to the front of the crowd. Much to his dismay, Lidusis could be seen on the ground as a bunch of Klads were seen beating up the poor boy. The gray-haired boy had curled up into a ball, his hands covering his head to lessen the damage.

Rood grit his teeth angrily before calming down. He opened the window, much to the confusion of his other classmates. The slight breeze blew his hair back a bit as he stepped onto the ledge. He then jumped out of the 2nd floor window much to the shock of everyone around him.

He walked to the klads who watched him with confusion. The Idun on the grassy ground looked up at Rood worriedly, his eyes attempting to warn the smaller boy away. Rood smiled kindly at the Klads that glanced at each other.

"Hey kid-" One of them began to speak before he was interrupted by Rood.

"Hey, can you all fuck off?" The blond haired boy smiled brightly, an air of innocence that certainly did not match his words at all. Lidusis's mouth opened slightly in surprise at the boy's voice.

"Wh- You little shit!" One of the Klads started to stomp towards Rood when he was suddenly kicked. The other Klads looked in confusion at the sight of their friend laying on the ground, the one who was kicked being just as bewildered. They looked up at the attacker to see who it was that had caught their, usually aware friend, off guard. They hesitated before splitting up and running towards both Rood and the attacker.

Lidusis scooted away from the group of Klads once the attention was off him, but looked curiously to see who had arrived.

"Who?" Rood's furrowed his eyebrows confused as he smoothly dodged the fist that came towards his face.

"So annoying."

"You're…!"

"Hello roommate."

' _Hello my ass!'_ Rood scowled at the sight of Shicmuon dodging blows with his hands in his pockets. He had to admit that he hadn't expected to see him there nor expect him to fight alongside him.

"Why are you helping me. I don't need it so go away." Irritation was clear in the smaller boy's voice as he looked at Shic while calmly dodging the fists. The Klads were getting increasingly more frustrated at being so blatantly ignored. Their attacks started to grow in force but became increasingly more slower the angrier they got.

"Don't misunderstand. I'm bored and feel like fighting." Once again, as Shicmuon fought, his hands never left his pockets much to the anger of his opponents. With a scoff, Rood rolled his eyes at the arrogance of his roommate.

"Yeah whatever. Just don't kill them.

Lidusis watched the fight in surprise, never having consider that the supposedly ill child and his roommate would come to his rescue. Despite being worried about the Hereis and Idun, the gray-haired boy couldn't help but have a warm feeling in his chest, a feeling of change that he thought would never come.

He moved to look at Rood when a small shine of light had caught his eye. He quickly grabbed it before his hand could be stepped on and he opened his hand. To his surprise, in his hand was a small earring.

"?"

The students continued to make a large fuss when Lin walked in. Confused, she walked over to her friend Camilla.

"What's going on? What's all this about?" She struggled to look past the students but was thoroughly blocked from the view of Rood and Shicmuon fighting the Klads.

"I'm… I'm not quite sure. There is an Idun fighting Klads and then a Hereis showed up a kicked one of the Klads and started fighting with the Idun!"

"An Idun!" Lin looked in the direction of the windows worriedly.

"Shouldn't someone call a professor?" The green-haired girl spoke softly as she looked back to her friend.

"Someone already went." Camilla smiled at their friend when they heard another classmate.

"I can see the professor!" A voice called out, loud enough for Rood to hear.

Rood looked up with dismay before quickly trying to leave. Unfortunately, Professor Khan had already appeared.

"What's going on here?! Mr. Chrishi, why are you here you're an ill student, why are you in a middle of a-" the teacher's eyes widened when he looked around "Are those students okay?! They look all beaten up! ….Can someone explain what has just happened?" Professor Khan hoped for a quick explanation that didn't include fighting or arguing as the student who got him had mentioned.


	5. I Told You He Wasn't a Monster

Lidusis stayed silent as he looked at Rood nervously. Rood glanced at the quiet boy before he thought quickly.' _Then let's just tell a lie.'_

"Professor I-"

"I fought them. The two Iduns tried to stop me." Shicmuon interrupted nonchalantly and the smaller boy blinked in surprise.

"M-Mr. Chrishi is this true?"

"No." For some reason, Rood didn't like what his roommate said.

"True."

"Wrong."

"True." Shic replied with his face showing no sign of emotion.

"False!"

"Double true."

"One hundred percent wrong!" Rood was starting to get annoyed at the auburn-haired boy and scowled.

"...B-both of you, please stop arguing. Let's just close this topic as if nothing happened." Professor Khan sighed and went to help the injured Klads to the nurse's office.

An awkward silence filled the air once Khan left with Rood and Shicmuon standing there. Lidusis looked at the two Rank one magicians curiously.

"Uh, well. Um, I'm, ...Th-." Rood sighed, wanting to say something yet somehow being unable to.

"If you have something to say, say it." Shic said, not realizing Rood's intent.

"Uh, Thank you." Rood cheeks flushed a little. He never thought that he would thank someone in this situations as he was used to doing everything himself.

Shicmuon's eyes widened slightly in surprise, the smaller boy's words having caught him off guard. His energy seemed to pool in his chest which only served to confuse him further. ' _The hell with him…? What was that. This feeling.'_

"What's with that. I thought you hated me." Shic raised an eyebrow, the only hint of any emotion shown on his face.

"I don't hate you. I thought you were the one who hates me considering how you act towards me." Rood replied, looking at the older boy with a small frown.

Lidusis looked at the two boys nervously, his finger tapping on the ground softly. He absentmindedly put the ring in his pocket, soon to be forgotten.

"E-excuse me…" The gray-haired boy spoke, the other two boys looked at Lidusis suddenly. Distracted by the quiet boy's sudden words, they returned from the world the two were in.

"Ah… Lidusis are you hurt?" Rood asked with a slight blush as Shicmuon turned and left.

Lidusis shook his head, glancing at a chirping bird that flew close to them.

"I'm fine… um, when will we continue the research?" he spoke shyly, tucking a strand of hair as he looked away from the noisy bird.

"Let's go to the library now."

The sun was high in the sky at 3 pm. Rood sat at the large table with Lidusis right in front of him, the taller boy occasionally glancing at him.

"What." The smaller boy looked across from him, his face blank despite his curiosity about why the gray-haired boy kept looking at him. A light pink spread across Lidusis's face as his head quickly went down back down.

"N-nothing…!" The shy boy tugged on his bangs, a little flustered at being caught. Rood continued to stare at his friend until Lidusis looked up.

"I-I'm just curious about your relationship with your roommate." He spoke shyly as the smaller boy tipped his head curiously.

"There isn't any relationship between us besides being roommates. Why are you curious about that?"

"...Well… you two were acting cold towards each others when I came to your room… Yet, a little bit ago, You looked… kinda close. He even came to fight with you and defended yo- Ah… I spoke too much… I'm sorry…" His bangs covered his eyes once again and Lidusis tried to read the squiggles on the book in front of him.

' _Do we really look that close?'_ Rood ignored the thought.

"Lidusis don't hesitate to tell me if you need anything alright?" He gave the other boy a honest smile.

"But if you stay along with me then something bad might happen…"

"I don't mind."

"But…. Okay… If you stay with me you might suffer. Will you… will you stay even when things get bad?" Lidusis looked up at Rood, a little crease in his forehead as he worried about the safety of the kind boy in front of him. Rood just smiled and nodded.

"Of course." Rood stated confidently when Lidusis broke into a bright smile.

"R...Rood! ROOD WHERE ARE YOU?!" Dio called frantically as he searched for his younger friend.

"Ah! Professor! Have you seen Rood Chrishi?"

"Yes, I believe I saw him enter the library not long ago." Professor Orphell answered the frantic boy.

"Okay thanks!" The blue-haired boy quickly turned and dashed towards the library. When he stepped through, his search ended as he found Rood sitting at a table.

"ROOD!" Dio ran towards his friend, ignoring the stares of the other students and the hush from the librarian.

"Dio why are you yellin-"

"I heard you got in a fight with upperclassmen! aRE YOU OKAY?! Are you hurt?! I was looking everywhere for you!" The frantic boy looked over his friend, pulling him out of his seat and turning his friend around as he looked for a wound.

"Hey. Stop, I'm fine. I didn't get hurt."

"Th… Thank god…!" Dio suddenly gave a shriek and hid behind Rood as though he found a monster.

"Dio, what are you doing?" Rood said as he turned his head to look and the blue haired boy.

"N-nothing, the monster just…."

"Ah, that's right. Lidusis you should greet people." Rood said when he remember his shy partner.

"U...uhm…. G-good afternoon." Lidusis's voice was soft as he looked at Dio, who stopped hiding behind Rood, through his bangs.

"Good." The smaller boy smiled at the gray-haired boy as Dio looked on with confusion.

' _Ha….hahaha… Wha-what's with that?!'_ With a little frown, the blue-haired boy looked between Rood and Lidusis.

"Dio, you shouldn't ignore people who greet you too." Rood remarked as he narrowed his eyes slightly at his confused friend.

"Y-yeah," Dio laughed awkwardly, "Hello, My name is Dio Varus."

"Lidusis, you can just ignore him." The blond haired boy said with a blank face as Dio's jaw dropped.

"That's so mean!" With a whiny complaint, Dio puffed out his cheeks in a pout. Lidusis let out a small laugh which in reply caused Rood to smile.

"Well, since Dio is my friend, he's your friend too, Lidusis."

"Hey! Rood!"

"What. Don't like it?" Rood looked at Dio with narrowed eyes and a small scowl.

"It's fine with me… just.. The rumors?" Dio asked making Lidusis to look down sadly, a sharp pain forming in the tall boy's chest.

"We just have to get rid of them. Like when Lidusis has trouble dealing with people and being called a monster."

' _Hahahaha... , What have I been pulled into?!'_ Dio drooped, a depressed feeling in his chest and the possible future hardships he will have to deal with.

"Lidusis, since we finished the research, how about you hand it to the professor." Rood said as he looked at the quiet boy.

"Okay." Lidusis gathered up their research and left to go to the professor's office. Rood and Dio were then left alone.

"ROOOOOOOD!" Dio shouted as he held both of Rood's shoulders, the librarian frowning at them.

"What? Calm down before you get us kicked out of the library. Honestly, you're so annoying." Rood said in annoyance as he pushed Dio's arms off of him.

"How?! How did things end up like this?!" Dio said in a hissed whisper.

"What do you mean?"

"Friends! With the monster!"

"He's not a monster. I want to be friends with Lidusis and if you don't like it then you can just leave okay? I thought we were friends." Rood said with a scowl.

"No…! I won't leave…"

"Fine, then just accept it."

"Sure, I just want to always be together with Roooood~!" Dio suddenly wrapped his arms around the other boy in a hug.

"Hey! What are you…" Rood tried to push Dio away without hurting him when he noticed someone standing there. Lidusis stood there shyly, shifting his weight from side to side.

"D-Dio!" Without thinking, Rood punched the boy hugging him in a rush to get him off him so that the quiet boy didn't misunderstand.

"R-Rood…. You're so harsh…!" The blue-haired boy had been pushed back and he held his cheek while he cried.

"I'm back." Lidusis covered the smile on his face as he watched the other two boy's antics.

"The mo- I mean, Lord Artian…"

"By the way," Rood said out of the blue, " Lidusis, what you found on the ground when you were bullied."

"You mean… the earring?" Lidusis said, surprised that the other boy noticed him picking it up.

"Yeah, give it to me, I think I might know the owner of it. You don't have to give it to a professor to find the owner." Rood said as he held out his hand. Lidusis nodded and handed the earring to Rood.

"Thanks." Rood started to walk away but stopped and turned around, "You guys get to know each other to pass the time as I give the earring back to its owner."

"Eh? H-hey Rood!" Dio said too late as the other boy had already left.

' _I wonder where I can find him…'_ Rood wondered curiously, " _I don't know if I would see him in the room, he might just fall asleep early before I reach the room.'_

Rood then stopped when he noticed Shicmuon, not far from the library. As he walked closer he noticed that the auburned-haired boy was completely surrounded with girls, the look on his face disinterested as always. Shic looked up when he notice the smaller boy.

"Hm." the tall boy broke through the crowd but when Shic's and Rood's eyes met, the blond-haired turned around and walked away quickly. After catching up to Rood's speed, Shic grabbed his arm in annoyance.

"Hey, if you having something to say then don't run away like a rat."

Rood scowled at the other boy in anger. ' _Why you…'_

"I'm not running away I just hate places with lots of people not to mention you looked busy with the girls."

"Yeah, and you're busy hugging other boys."

"Y-you saw that?!" Rood said, his eyes widening. Why the hell would this person be there seeing that scene of all things! He seems to have misunderstood something though.

"You don't know anything." Rood said in irritation.

"Don't know what."

"Nothing. What happens to me is none of your business. I hate people like you the most! You're so damn annoying!" Rood's chest tightened, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Don't talk to me ever again!"

Shicmuon's eyes widened slightly at the sudden outburst.

Rood hated it. Not Shic, but the way he acted in front of him, throwing his anger on someone. ' _What should I do now… I haven't lost my temper in front of anyone like that before. Why did this happen?'_ Frustrated with himself, Rood quickly turned away and stalked back to the library angrily, the earring still in his pocket.

On the other hand, Shicmuon watched the retreating back in surprise by Rood's forwardness. ' _Well even if he tells me, I don't plan on changing my attitude toward him.'_

Shic scowled at nothing, the younger boy's words stirring up a fire in the short-tempered boy's mind.

"Rood! You're back!" Dio grinned at Rood, who had calmed down on his way back to the library.

"Welcome back." Lidusis smiled pleasantly at the shorter boy.

"Well, you two seem a lot more closer than I expected you two to be." There was a warm and friendly atmosphere as opposed to the gloomy one that used to be between them. ' _I thought only girls became friends that quickly.'_

"Rood? Is something wrong?" The blue-haired boy watched his friend carefully, Lidusis also having a worried feeling.

"What do you mean?"

"Ah… n-nothing." Dio gave a little frown, "Did you give the person their earring?"

"I forgot."

"EH?! Rood, what were you doing all this time then?!" Dio's jaw dropped and Lidusis watched Rood curiously.

"I mean, I have searched for him but didn't find him." Rood spoke, slightly guilty for lying to his friends, "Lidusis, don't worry about it. That person is my roommate after all."

"Alright…" Lidusis didn't care about the earrings this point and was more worried about Rood. He couldn't make sense of it. First Rood said that he forgot. And then he said he couldn't find him. The gray-haired boy couldn't help but notice that his friend's mind seemed to be focused on something else. Lidusis looked over at his other friend when he heard Dio laughing.

"Rood, you've been spacing out a lot today!" Dio mentioned as Rood shook his head.

"You're overthinking."

"I agree with Dio…" Lidusis spoke quietly and his eyebrows creased in worry.

"Well, to be honest, I'm a bit tired. That's all."

"Ah…" Lidusis relaxed slightly.

"I'm glad nothing's wrong then!" The blue-haired boy spoke happily, pleased that nothing was wrong.

"You should go rest then…" The quiet boy looked at the short boy, who in turn looked up at him.

"Yeah! Rood, let's return to the dorms. We don't have anymore classes today anyway." Dio grinned childishly as he bounced on the ball of his feet.

"Alright." Rood answered.

"Rood?"

"I… guess I'm going to stay over with the both of you, is that alright?"

"It's fine… Is everything alright?" Lidusis looked worried once again at his blond friend.

"I'm just bored in my room."

"Oh…" Lidusis tried to relax but couldn't shake off the feeling that something had happened. Dio on the other hand, he was excited that they were going to have a sleepover, oblivious to the fact that something might be bothering Rood.

"Let's play until morning!"

"We have school tomorrow Dio."

"Buuuuut Rooooooooood! I wanna plaaaay~!"

"We can but up until 9 pm." Rood said with a sigh as his hyper friend cheered excitedly in reply.

"So how about you sleep besides me today~?" Dio said with a grin . The large smile quickly vanished at the dark glare the small boy gave him.

"J-just kidding!" The blue-haired boy laughed awkwardly as he quickly hid behind their tall friend. Lidusis smiled slightly at the two,a tight feeling in his chest that never seemed to go away.

"Good. Let's go to your dorms."

"Um… Dio? Why the hell is there a playstation in an academy's dorms?" Rood stared in disbelief, "Are you guys here to play or to study and graduate to go to university and get a job?!"

Rood sighed as he watched his blue-haired friend unpack a large bag. The room became filled with games and toys, quickly making the room become a playground.

"Well, see, I became friends with Lord Artian! Friends should play together a lot!" Dio grinned cutely, looking at his friends with a warm chest.

"Are you seriously planning on destroying other people's lives?!" The smaller boy glared at the hyperactive boy who in turn gave a huff, "I'm glad I'm not your roommate."

"Mean as always!" Dio drooped, his lower lip sticking out, "Let's… let's play at least one game…"

"I…" The previously quiet boy spoke up and raised his head looking through his gray bangs.

"Lidusis, you want to! Right!? Right?!" The blue-haired boy immediately perked up, an tail could almost be seen wagging, just like he was a dog that was asked if he wanted to go on a walk. He had a determined look on his face, desperately trying to convince his friends to play at least one round.

"Okay, let's play." With exasperation, the smallest boy in the room shook his head, giving in to his hyper friend's plea. However, Lidusis looked at Rood with a small frown.

"Um... " Lidusis hesitated before he grabbed Rood's arm and looked at his feet. "Are… are you really okay? You said that you were tired, so shouldn't you go and rest... Isn't it noisy in here…?"

Dio nodded and looked at the blond-haired boy.

"Well, I agree with Lord Artian, why don't you just go to your room and rest? It's probably quiet in there." Dio put a hand on Rood's head, gently patting his head much to the younger boy's displeasure, "I don't want to see you get sick, I'll become depressed!"

Dio gave an over-dramatic sigh, despite being serious about what he had said.

"I don't want to." Rood said in annoyance as he smacked Dio's hand off his head. Dio's eyes widened as he came to a (false) realization.

"Could…. Could it be?! YOU'RE BEING BULLIED BY THAT HEREIS AREN'T YOU!" Dio shouted as he grabbed Rood's shoulders with a horrified look. Lidusis let go of Rood's arm, surprised by Dio's shout.

"Are you stupid? I just don't like being with people like him." Rood huffed at Dio's dramatic response and pushed Dio's hands off his shoulders.

"Don't worry Rood! You can trust me with anything! You don't have to pretend or anything, I'll help you out!"

Much to Rood's dismay, his drama queen friend appeared to be stuck on the thought that he was being bullied.

"How horrible for a Hereis to bully such a smaller person…" Dio said mournfully. It was that moment that annoyed Rood the most and he smacked Dio across the head.

"Are deaf as well as stupid? I told you! I'm not being bullied! Sheesh… let's just play the stupid game."

The blue-haired boy cheered, pleased at finally managing to convince his friends to play and Lidusis smiled gently at his two new friends.

Shicmuon stood in front of the bedroom door, his chest tight and hesitantly opened the door. He couldn't help but wonder about the disappointment he felt as he noticed that the smaller boy's bed was empty.

' _What the fuck. Whatever.'_ Shaking his head, the tall boy got ready for bed quite sluggishly.

His eyes looked from his uncomfortable bed to the fluffy bed with a teddy bear on it. He crawled into Rood's bed and picked up the warm stuffed animal. He held it above his head as he observed it, nothing out of ordinary and shrugged it off, tossing it to the other side of the bed. He shut his eyes slowly, the silence around him somehow becoming deafening.

"Wow Rood! You're really amazing! And this is your first time playing?" Dio looked at the smaller boy in amazement, the words 'Rood won' flashing on the screen.

"It is. I don't care much for playing. I spend my time studying because I actually care about my grades, unlike a certain boy in this room. Which I can assure you, that person isn't Lidusis." Rood said calmly, ignoring the pouting boy to look at the quiet boy.

Lidusis looked at his phone with a small smile on his face, the light from the screen glowing as it displayed a text message. Dio looked at his tall friend curiously.

"Who's texting you at this time?"

"Ah…. My friends…" Lidusis looked up at Dio, a small smile on his face.

"Eh?! You have friends other than us?" DIo said shocked, quickly getting a smack on the back f his head. He yelped and looked at his offender. Rood scowled at the dense boy.

"Dio, are you insensitive or are you just that stupid." The blond-haired boy kept the scowl on his face until he heard a laugh from Lidusis's direction.

"Yes, I have two friends but they have been studying in Plairus." Lidusis smiled softly and Dio's face lit up.

"Wow, in another country?! That's so cool! They must be nobles but that's to be expected for Lord Artian to know such people! Who are they?" Dio leaned towards the gray-haired boy, his curiosity seemingly endless.

"They're siblings. Their names are Ibriel and Chevel Phon Hadelio."

The next day was as bright and sunny as the last few days had been. No clouds casted a shadow on the two figures that stood in front of Helios, the same way Rood had done so when he first arrive.

The two siblings stood side by side, their blond hair a golden color that shined in the sunlight. The girl smiled brightly, her brother on the other hand, looking annoyed. The bags under his eyes did nothing to hide the older boy's exhaustion.

"Ibriel, how can you be so hyper this early in the morning…" Chevel looked down at his (precious) little sister as she looked up at him giggling.

"Because I went to bed at a good time, rather than worry about Lidusis and if the school was treating him right." She stared at her brother, her face blank with the exception of amusement that danced in her eyes.

"Wh-What?! I- I wasn't worrying about him! I was just worried about if I was going to get lost! Geez…." The brother flushed, scowling at his younger sister who laughed loudly and took off towards the school. With a sigh, Chevel followed the hyper girl, curious to what the school year was going to be like.


	6. The Golden Newcomers

The sky was bright and cheerful, a severe contrast to a certain auburned-haired boy. He had a large scowl on his face that morning when he woke up to realize that his small roommate had, in fact, not come back to their room at any point the previous night.

He ignored the whispers of girly voices, glaring harshly if any of them tried to approach him. He was stalked to his classroom, the murmuring about a new students were lost on him as he sat in his seat, his finger tapping quickly on the table, ready to be taught something he already knew.

' _What a goddamn pain, why the fuck do I have to be here and deal with annoying idiots, and annoying lovestruck girls, and an annoying roommate that doesn't come back to the fucking room.'_

He rested his head in his hand and huffed angrily. The teacher walked to the front of the class and called for attention.

"Excuse me, class. Please go back to your assigned seats, I have something to announce." The professor watched as his students walked back to their seats, only when all eyes were on him, did he start talking again.

"We have a new student today that will be joining us for the rest of the semester. He was studying abroad in Plairus until now so I hope you can still welcome him to your class." The teacher motioned to the new student to come in. Chevel walked in, his face calm except for the slight annoyance when his eyes spot Dirod, the eldest Artian.

"Mr. Hadelio, please sit next to Mr. Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin, please raise your hand."

The professor's words were lost on the auburn-haired boy, Shicmuon's mind still distracted on his roommate.

"Mr. Baldwin…?" The professor frowned at the boy who was lost in thoughts. Dirod turned around and tapped on Shicmuon's desk, getting a scowl as a reward for his actions. Despite some of the students looking away from the grouchy boy, the brunette did not react to the harshness of the glare.

"The teacher is trying to talk to you" He smiled politely at Shic.

"Did anyone ever tell you that your smile is disgustingly fake?" The auburned-haired boy put his head in his hand as he looked at Dirod who frowned and turned back around. There was a loud burst of laughter, everyone's heads switching from Shicmuon to the new student up at the front. Chevel laughed at the blunt words and he walked to his seat.

"He's right, I'm glad someone else realized it." Chevel grinned at Shicmuon who glanced at him.

"Noisy." Shicmuon spoke and looked away from the blond-haired boy. Chevel's eye twitched in annoyance and looked away from the unfriendly boy next to him.

Despite the disruption, the class went on without a hitch.

In a classroom in another part of the building, the younger Hadelio was being introduced to the class.

"Class, this is Ibriel Hadelio. She was studying in Plairus but I hope you will welcome her as you have welcomed Mr. Chrishi." Khan smiled at his students who observed the blonde.

Ibriel smiled brightly at Lidusis and waved at him and he gave a small smile as well as a little wave in reply. Some of the students looked at Lidusis and back to the new student in wonder.

"Ah, Miss. Hadelio, please sit in front of Mr. Artian please." He said as he noticed the friendliness between the two.

"Okay!" The smile never left her face as she walked to Lidusis, a glow could almost be seen radiating from her. She stopped in front of Lidusis's desk and grinned.

"I bet you didn't think I was coming this early!" Ibriel's voice was bright as she spoke and the shy boy gave a soft smile.

"I thought you were going to wait a day or so but I'm glad you're here." As Lidusis smiled kindly Rood watched curiously.

The golden haired girl's skirt swished as she turned around to address her classmates.

"I want everyone to know that Lidusis is my friend and if anyone tries to bully him, me and my brother will make you regret it!" Her grin was as much full of confidence as the hand on her hip, her determination to protect the shy boy leaking from her posture and words.

Rood gave a nod, pleased to have another ally to protect head started to pound a bit, a headache forming all of a sudden. As he watched her sit down in her proper seat, Rood's mind began to slip.

' _I wonder what he is doing…'_ Rood thought of him, the auburn haired boy who sat lazily in his seat with not a care in the world.

'I hate this class and I hate that old bastard.' Shic thought, daydreaming of ways to get his revenge at the association for making him go to this damn school.

"So now, let's talk about your group project. In a group of three, you will work out how to make your own magic crystal, and by crystal, I mean one found in nature as opposed to our communication crystals and the like. Of course, this project is merely theoretical. Does anyone want to tell me why?" The professor looked around the classroom for a raised hand or possibly his next victim.

' _No one wants to tell you why. They're either too stupid to know or just don't give a fuck.'_ With his hand holding up his head, the auburn-haired boy glared at the teacher in annoyance. It was then that the teacher chose the new transfer student as his victim.

"Mr. Hadelio?" He looked at the golden-haired boy with a bright smile on his face. Chevel looked up and sighed.

"Because Magic crystal's found in nature have a different constitution than the ones that are made for communication or recording."

"That is correct, a natural magic crystal has the ability to hold magic yet the way nature forms such crystals is still unknown to today's scientists."

Shic rolled his eyes and looked back at the textbook on his desk. ' _And yet, still, nobody cares. What a shock.'_

Time flew by as the teacher droned on about natural forming science crystals, but unsurprisingly, who the groups were, did not come up until the end of class.

"Ah, that's right. Sorry class, I almost forgot about telling you your partners!" The professor gave a booming laugh, his students simply rolled their eyes. This was a natural occurrence for the class.

' _You know, there's a legend saying that if you shut the fuck up, you wouldn't be so annoying.'_ Shicmuon thought, with an annoyed huff.

The teacher told the class their groups, yet it wasn't until the last group, that anyone was dissatisfied with their partner.

"And the last group will be Mr. Hadelio, Mr. Artian and Mr. Baldwin."

While Dirod didn't show it, he was displeased to have to be partnered with the monster lover and the mindless idiot. Chevel was annoyed to be partnered with the asshole Artian and the unfriendly asshole. Shicmuon thought the whole project itself was stupid and was annoyed to have to deal with anyone. He'd have rathered he was partnered with no one.

And then the bell rang.

Rood stood up and stretched, his back making a loud crack. Others around him gave a cringe while Dio gave him a dirty look.

"That's gross Rood. Cracking your back is nasty."

"Gross like your sleeping and eating habits?"

"Hey!" Like the overdramatic boy he was, the blue-haired boy looked at Rood with tears in his eyes. The smaller boy rolled his eyes as he rubbed his forehead, as his head began to give quiet throb. Ibriel on the other hand had gone straight to Lidusis's desk.

"It's been so long since I've seen you! Have you made any friends? I know you're very shy and all but it has already been a semester, surely you've made some friends right?" Her golden hair shone a little as it was flipped over her shoulder. The shy boy she was talking to blushed. Rood looked at them and snorted.

"Shy is an understatement. It was a little difficult trying to befriend him. He was too worried about me rather than himself."

"R-Rood.." Lidusis looked at him worriedly, not wanting his old friend to know about being called a monster. Rood looked at Lidusis and nodded.

"My name is Rood, I'm Lidusis's friend." Rood gave a polite smile to Ibriel who tipped her head curiously.

" Why would Lidusis be worried?" She asked, a dainty finger being placed on her lip. Lidusis glanced at Rood quickly before looking back at Ibriel.

"Because he worries far too much about nothing and places everyone else before himself." the blond haired boy gave a casual shrug. Dio nodded and put his hand on his hip.

"Him being bullied di-" Dio was quickly cut off by a swift quick to the kneecap. He fell with a loud thump, his classmates looking back to see what that came from as well as the whine the childish boy gave as he sat up.

"What was that for?!"

"Talking too much you idiot."

"Hey…" Dio sat in a corner, his lower lip wobbling.

"Bullying? Lidusis who's bullying you? I'll tell big bro and he will take care of them!" The fearless girl crossed her arms, since on her previous words to the class, to make sure that her gentle friend was not being harmed in anyway..

"N-no! You… you can't… please…." Lidusis said looking down and his desk. Ibriel frowns but let's a soft sigh escape as she gives in.

"Fine, but you have to explain it later in full detail okay?" With a small smile, Lidusis nods to his friend's demand and gets out of his seat.

"We should go to our next class…" Lidusis spoke as he walked to Dio and placed a gentle hand on Dio's shoulder. The blue-haired boy looked up, wiping tears away from his eyes. Lidusis gave the childish boy a sweet smile.

"Hey Lidusis… are you an angel?" Dio's eyes sparkled while Rood gave it some thought.

"Actually I wouldn't be surprised if he was an angel quite frankly. If anyone would be an angel in disguise it'd probably be Lidusis. Maybe you do have a brain after all Dio."

"Hey! Stop being so mean…!"

Ibriel laughed as the tall boy in question blushed and shook his head. After all, him? An angel?

"What is our next class anyway?" A smile was still on her face as she turned to the others. Dio stood up, gloom suddenly forming around him again.

"Physical education….." He said, a dramatic darkness being added to those two words.

"The only reason you don't like physical education is because you're lazy." Rood said, a frown on his face.

"Lazy and proud Rood. I know I've dropped my motivation but I just don't feel like picking it up." Dio crossed his arms, the pride being clear on his face.

Rood rolled his eyes as he walked to the classroom door, sighing at such immaturity.

"Let's just start heading to the gym. I don't want to lose anymore brain cells listening to Dio be stupid."

"Hey!"

Many students were complaining about the newly acquired gym outfits. Rood couldn't help but agree with them as he looked down at it.

"I feel like my shirt is stuck completely to my skin. Is this even a shirt? Why must it be a semi-turtleneck? That's weird... At least the pants are normal…" As he looked up, he notices the group of Hereis walking in which included, to his displeasure, Shicmuon. The girls all flushed at the sight of the auburn-haired boy, their murmurs started to get on the blond haired boy's nerves.

"Look at Baldwin! He's so… fit."

"He's unbelievably handsome…!"

The murmuring continued and got…. quite terrifying to which we will discluded to save our poor reader's minds. A boy even spoke up about his attractiveness, causing the girls to look at him confused.

"I don't need to be gay to know when a guy is spicy hot." The male student crossed his arms with a huff.

Ibriel lit up at the sight of her brother, surrounded by childhood friends he made when he traveled with his father.

"Cheveeeeeeel~!" She waved her arm sporadically, a giant grin on her face.

The golden-haired brother looked up and smiled at the sight of his sister. A certain purple-haired boy had his normal mischievous smile on his face as he saw Chevel wave at Ibriel.

"Aw, your sister-complex is showing!" Linus laughed cheerfully, as Chevel scowled at his friend.

"I don't have a sister complex! " He glared at the mischievous boy while his little sister giggled and Lidusis smiled when he walked up to them.

"Ah, Lidusis. You're not being bullied right? Have you made any friends yet? You're not letting people like your brother walk all over you right? I know you tend to do that… Have-" The barrage of questions was only stopped when Ibriel started to laugh.

"Why are you laughing at me? Stop."

"I can't help it! You're being an overprotective brother!" Even her hand that was covering her mouth couldn't stop the giggles from escaping. Lidusis, who was trying to quickly answer each question as they came up, smiled brightly.

"Well _someone_ has to be an overprotective brother. God knows _he_ isn't." The golden-haired boy gave a glare to the brunet that was surround by a group of friends. Shicmuon, who stood nearby, raised an eyebrow and looked at Dirod until he noticed a certain Idun and started walking towards him.

Rood stood there wondering what the word to describe the currently missing teacher when Shicmuon walked up. It was that moment that the teacher walked, a bright smile on her face.

"Hey Roomie-" The taller boy looked down at his roommate and started to speak when he was interrupted

"Looking great kids!' She smiled brightly at the students, wearing the same style of clothings the students.

"A pervert teacher." Rood said firmly, his fist plopping down on his palm. Shic frowned and looked at Rood weirdly.

"What the fuck?" The confusion was clear on Shic's face when Rood looked up at him.

"Huh? Oh. It's you. What do you want."

"You didn't go back to your room last night." Shic said frowning, ignoring the teacher that had began to explain what they were doing.

"I stayed the night in my friend's room. We played games. Why does it matter to you anyway." Shicmuon moved to open his mouth in reply however he was interrupted again by the teacher with information that caught his attention.

"There will be four groups in total, Hereis males and Idun males as well female Hereis and female Idun teams. The males will go against males and females against females." Rood frowned as he listened.

"Isn't that a bit unfair?" a student spoke up with his hand raised, "We are just Iduns."

"This is a test of physical strength not magic so It doesn't matter."

"But most of the hereis are older than us…"

"Stop being whiny and let's get the show on the road! Girls stand to the side of the room. Guys will go first." The physical education teacher clapped her hands loudly and walked to the side of the room. She took ball after ball out of a semi-large metal basket and threw them into middle of the large gym room.

The two male teams split up on either side of the room. Rood picked up a ball, frowning at it in displeasure.

' _Why must it be so hot in here?'_ Rood wondered as he looked around at his classmates. Lidusis also had a small frown on his face which was likely because his brother was glaring at him from across the room. Rood narrowed his eyes. He decided then who his first victim was. Dio, on the other hand was panicking.

"R-rood what are we going to do?! We might be some of the first targets because of- Rood are you listening?" Dio watched Rood walk away from him, "What am I, the terms and conditions?!"

"Now start!" As the professor yelled, the game began to set into motion. Rood took aim, gauged how hard he should throw it and threw the ball at Dirod.

With a surprised yelp it hit him with hard thump on his chest and became the first victim of the game. As a few weak people got out, like Dio, the game began to slow.

Dio had jumped in front of a ball aimed for Rood, his aim to protect him.

"Dio, you know I could have easily dodged that."

"Oh…."

"Thanks though." Rood turned and focused back on the game as Dio grinned.

"I knew you had a nice side!" The blue-haired boy cheered happily as he walked to the side-lines.

It was then that Rood realized that someone had their eyes set on getting him out. He looked up and Shicmuon had a ball in his hands and a smirk on his face.

Rood gave a slight smile and a nod. This was when the real game began. Balls were thrown quickly at the others, both Shicmuon and Rood dodging with aimed for the other students to get out before they focused on one another. It was when the two were one on one when Rood started sweat, the temperature seeming to rise.

Shicmuon frowned as he noticed that the Idun started to slow down in speed. Rood got slower and slower until he came to a complete stop. The other stopped as well when the auburn-haired boy came to realize that something was very wrong.

The room was almost pitch black, the only light being a few candles that hardly gave view to the meeting table with cloaked men. It was utterly ridiculous to have their identities hidden seeing as each person knew exactly who the other was, but perhaps it was for the possibility of having someone barge in. Although, that was unlikely with the guards and traps that were set up along the way to keep any possible visitors away.

"And we are sure that there has been a sighting of the boy?" A woman's soft voice spoke from one cloaked figure.

"Yes. He was traveling when he was sighted." A cloaked man gave a nod as he looked at the woman.

"And you didn't think to trail him?!" A man slammed his fist on the table as he looked at the man. A snake-like woman cackled from somewhere in the room, watching as the argument began between the rivals.

"Of course we did you idiot! Our man was quickly wiped out!"

"How pathetic must your men be for them to be wiped out?" The snake-like woman finally spoke, the taunt in her voice clear.

"EVERYONE!" A commanding voice filled the room quickly from the center of the table. All arguing came to a full stop just as it began. Once the room was silent the voice began to talk.

"We have no need for arguing and it will only get us further from our purpose! We must work together if we wish for our plans to work. We are not up against a weak opponent nor does our enemy have no allies. We must be as strong and as manipulative as our opposition and their friends. We must look together for clues." The leader lifted a finger to point to each individual as they ordered specific people separately.

"You look up airplane flights and you look through security cameras. Once either of you find a lead, tell the others so we can have another meeting and decide what to do from there."

The group gave a collective nod, and simultaneously vanished, the dust settling around as though no one had been there to begin with.


	7. Lidusis Makes a Friend and Dio is Weird

"Is he okay…?" Chevel frowned as he looked at Rood curiously. That was when the other students began to remember that Rood was a 'sickly child' regardless of the fact that such status was not truly in the blondie profile. Lidusis began to quickly walk to the teacher, his breath starting to quicken as Rood starts to sway.

"Hey roomie, what's with you?" Shic frowned as he dropped the ball and started to walk towards the swaying boy. Rood, on the other hand, kept looking at the swaying ground, his sight getting blurrier by the moment. Luckily, by the time his legs gave out from under him, Shic had gotten close enough to catch him. Some of the girls began to squeal at the scene of the taller boy holding the sick Idun.

"Dammit, if you didn't feel well you should have told someone." The auburn-haired boy looked down at the Rood, mentally noting the heat that the boy resonated.

"I-I didn't feel that bad the rest of the day…" The smaller boy's voice shook as he spoke striking a buried cord of feeling that Shicmuon didn't realize he still had. The taller boy shook his head as he swiftly walked to the gym doors. The teacher quickly walked in front of him.

"Where are you going? You can't just leave without my permission!" She gave a huff and crossed her arms, oblivious of the annoyance from all of the other students as well as the slowly forming hatred.

"Well clearly, Mrs. Pervert teacher," the nickname Shicmuon gave the teacher elicited a look of rage from the teacher and laughter from the students, "He's clearly sick, his body is practically the sun with how hot it is, and I'm pretty sure he's about to pass out. Now if you don't get the fuck out of my way, I might be stuck with some annoying roomie while he is lying sick in some fucking hospital and I swear to god I will end you."

Chevel frowned slightly and scratched his head. 'Isn't that a bit overdramatic?' On the other hand, the teacher got out of his way quickly, the scowl on her face is quite clear.

"I'll make sure that you're not going to walk away scott-free from disrupting my class and making a fool out of me!" She said with a huff, much to the annoyance of the other students.

"What are you going to do? Tell my dad? You think I give a flying fuck?" His words echoed as he walked out of the room in long strides as a certain blue-haired boy followed behind. Despite the normally loud, and boisterous boy he was, Dio walked behind secretly, his feet making no sound on the granite hallway flooring.

"Why are you following me." The auburn-haired boy spoke with a demand despite his words being a question. Dio's eyes widened at being caught, an occurrence rare on its own. The taller boy kept a quick pace to the nurse's office.

"B-because Rood's my friend! I just want to make sure he's okay!" Dio caught up with the other boy, looking at him from next to him. Shic rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Okay stalker."

"I'm not a stalker!"

"You are."

"No, I'm not!" The blue-haired boy started to huff, his cheeks becoming a rosy red. The taller boy smirked as he kept walking, not bothering to even give the other boy a glance. Dio crossed his arms in a pout, still huffing.

Meanwhile, back in the gym, there were whispers and glances towards a gray-haired boy as well as murmurings of the 'monsters curse'. This was started by none other that Dirod, who shook his head and spoke to the crowd.

"It must be the monster's curse, it is what he gains from being friends with the monster." His face showed pity, however, his younger brother could see the malice in his gaze and looked at the ground. Lidusis began to wonder if he really was cursed when there was a loud crack and others gasped as Dirod fell to the ground with Chevel standing above him, teeth bared.

"Enough with this bullshit, Lidusis is not a monster and there's no such thing as a damn curse and ho-" Chevel was quickly cut off by the teacher who stepped in between the two.

"Detention! You can't just go around punching people and swearing!" She crossed her arms and scowled when the golden-haired boy turned his glare towards her and was about to retort when his sister spoke up.

"How come Chevel is getting punished yet that jerk," Ibriel gestured to Dirod on the floor who she noticed was covering his nose and blood dripped from it, "After he referred to a student, his own brother no less as a monster and a cursed one at that!" The teacher opened her mouth before quickly shutting it before turning to Dirod.

"Here, let's get you to the nurse's office so you can take care of your nose." Dirod got up with a glare towards Chevel and stomped away. Lidusis meanwhile was struggling with two voices in his head. Was he truly a cursed monster? Or was he nothing of the sort? He was unable to ponder it any longer when the golden siblings quickly started to worry about the quiet boy.

Shicmuon sat quietly by Rood who slept in the nurse's office. Dio sat directly in front of the tall boy, a scowl on his face and crossed arms. The nurse stood behind Dio and gave a smile.

"It's nice to see that you two are worried about your friend, but he isn't going to wake up for quite a bit. You should probably go back to class" The blue-haired boy began to open his mouth when Shicmuon interrupted, his face as blank as ever.

"I don't care about him. I don't feel like going to class." The nurse's eyes widen and Dio stomped his foot angrily, his cheeks turning red as he puffed them out in a pout.

"Go away! Your terrible personality is probably giving Rood nightmares, you jerk!"

"No. I carried him. You have the terrible personality, following behind uselessly."

"Wh- I do not! I don't see why you bothered! I could have carried him just fine! Rood doesn't even like you! He won't want to see a jerk when he wakes up!" Dio stomped his foot again when Shic narrowed his eyes and swiftly kicked the leg of the chair making both the chair and its occupant fall to the ground.

The boys were then kicked out by the nurse. With one last glare towards each other, Shicmuon walked to the library as the bell rang and Dio sat down on the floor right outside the room his friend slept, now peacefully.

Lidusis sat at an empty desk in the library, with papers strewn about. Information about the newest technology and latest magical findings were littered about as he wrote on several pieces of papers, every once in awhile crumbling up the paper and throwing in the trash a little bit away with surprising accuracy.

It was at that moment, as Lidusis began to feel frustrated, he threw a little too hard and it sailed over the trash can and landed at the feet of an older boy. The boy picked up the paper and uncrumpled it. With the gray-hair boy oblivious to the act, Shic began to read.

It began with an idea. As Shicmuon read on, he followed the process that the boy was attempting to create in his head. He then realized the flaw in the project and walked behind the boy. He placed the paper on the table and pointed to the mistake.

"Hey idiot, magic can't stabilize without an active mark to hold it together."

Lidusis looked up at him, startled before looking back down at the paper. His eyes widened when he realized the mistake before looking back up at the older boy.

"But then would that mean that each magic crystal found in nature have their own mark?" The shy boy spoke softly, hiding behind his hair as Shicmuon seemed to ponder the question.

"Yes, unless there is another thing that can possibly replace the mark that humans aren't yet aware of." He pulled out the seat next to Lidusis, his curiosity now intrigued. "What exactly are you trying to do anyway?"

"I'm trying to see if I can find a way to create a power source from magic so that it can replace certain technologies like in hospitals or.. Stuff." Lidusis gave a soft blush as Shicmuon raised an eyebrow.

"But why. Is it for a class or some shit?" He watched the younger boy curiously as the boy responded flusteredly and shook his head, his bangs hiding his face even more. Shicmuon had a half a mind to grab scissors and cut the damn bangs just so he could actually look the gray-haired boy in the face. "Then why are you doing it."

"Um, I want, I uh…" He restarted his sentence multiple times before the boy next to him sighed in frustration.

"Whatever. Doesn't matter." The auburn-haired boy picked up several pieces of paper to see what the younger boy had before dropping back on the table carelessly. Lidusis picked up his notes and hesitated before looking back at the Hereis.

"Will you help me?"

"No." Shicmuon's face was blank and turned around to walk away before stopping. The image of the empty room popped into his head before he turned back to the dismayed boy, his mind changed.

"Fine but only because I have nothing better to do." Lidusis beamed at Shic's words, his bangs no longer covering his eyes. The older boy noticed the bangs in annoyance. 'Now I really want to cut those bangs.'

It sky was pitch black and the moon shone in the sky when Rood woke up to an angry voice. His head was clear, the sudden fever was nowhere to be seen. He glanced at the door and stood up carefully, his hand shook as it held him up. The blonde-haired boy walked the door and opened it only to see Dio and a strange man with silvery-blue hair and surprising yellow eyes. Dio turned around in surprise before giving another glare to the strange man.

"Go away, you traitor." Dio continued to glare while Rood, with his eyes drooping from exhaustion, watched silently. The man ignored the childish boy and looked at Rood and gave a smile.

"My name is Lispen. I will be one of the professors here, and one of your teachers." The so-called traitor, Lispen, spoke politely, much to Roods confusion before swiftly turning around and leaving.

"Dio, who was that?" Rood looked at his friend who scowled in the direction of the man who just left.

"A stupid traitor that shouldn't be here." Dio huffed and crossed his arms while Rood rolls his eyes.

"Okay but why." Rood's head started to pound a little as he spoke. The blue-haired boy looked at his friend when he notices that his friend seems to be swaying.

"Rood, are you okay?! You need to go back to sleep! Don't worry I'll protect you!"

"If you're the one protecting me then I'll need to be extra worried."

"Hey!"


	8. Rumors, a Cat, and Going Home

There were many rumors flying around Helios. There was two, however, that were the most prominent. The first was the new professor, Professor Lispen.

"Did you hear about the new training professor?" A girl looked at her boyfriend curiously who nodded in reply.

"Yeah, I heard he's really hot," He said when he noticed his girlfriends stare, "What? Like I said before. I don't need to be gay to know when a guy is spicy hot."

The other rumor revolved around a certain delinquent and a certain 'sickly' student.

"Ugh, I want to be carried like that by Baldwin…. And he carried a boy… I wonder if I fainted if he would carry me?"

"I doubt it. He's such a bad boy. A dreamy bad boy." A few girls giggled together while the first one huffed.

A certain short Idun walked by at that point and rolled his eyes at their conversation. 'A bad boy? Really? He's just an annoying delinquent.' He sighed and kept walking, ignoring the stares he was getting from the girls. 'Although… he did carry me to the nurses office…'

Rood sighed once more and was about to walk into the dorms when he noticed a black ball of fluff near a bush. He frowned and walked towards it when he heard a soft meow. He kneeled down and gently touched the ball to roll it over when he realized that it was a small kitten.

"A- a cat? What are you doing here kitty?" The Idun looked at the small kitten when he noticed that it was holding its paw a bit odd. When he gently touched it, the cat gave a whimper and he quickly retracted his hand.

"What's wrong? Let me see your paw okay? I want to help." The kitten looked up and hesitantly showed him their paw, only to reveal that it had a thorn stuck in it.

"Ah, poor kitty. Now hold still I'm going to take it out. Hm… it's a pretty small thorn. I have tweezers in my room, so I'll have to bring you in there alright?" The cat gave a patient meow and allowed Rood to pick up them up. Rood stood up before quickly walking to his dorm room and opened it to a sight he hadn't expected.

Shicmuon, who had just gotten out of the shower, stood there in only a towel.

"Why do you have a kitty."

"I uh, why are you, um. Oh for fuck sakes, put some clothes on!" Roods face was red as he quickly walked to the bathroom to grab his tweezers. He set the kitten down gently on the counter, his mind still wandering to the boy who had only a towel on. His mind kept on the towel before he shook his head flustered.

The cat looked up at Rood before giving a soft meow and holding up its wounded paw. Rood blinked before rummaging through the drawer. He pulled the tweezers out with a little 'aha!' before gently taking out the thorn from the tiny paw. He took out some bandages and gently wrapped the foot before smiling at the kitty.

"There you go." The younger boy gave a small smile when the kitty gave a little purr and curled up on the counter. Shicmuon, now with pants on, leaned against the door frame.

"So why do you have a kitty."

"I- Oh for the love of god put a shirt on!" Rood huffed, blushing at the shirtless boy. The fit boy gave a groan and turned around to put a shirt on when Rood stopped him.

"Asujen wait a moment."

"Wait? I thought you wanted me to put a shirt on." Shic turned around with a huff and crossed his arms. Rood rolled his eyes before pointing to the older boys shoulders.

"Are those real tattoos?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you have tattoos. You're how old?" Rood frowned, absentmindedly petting the top of the black cat's head.

"I'm seventeen. Besides the royal crest one was forced on me. The association crest I got myself. Why? Dunno. Felt like it. You gonna tell me why you have a cat now?" Shic pulled out a random shirt before putting it on. The younger boy glanced down at the cat who gave a soft meow, sitting regally and watching the boys' antics.

"It had a thorn in its foot. I found it by the dorm entrance in front of a bush." Rood gave a little shrug.

"A cat in this school? Weird." the auburn-haired boy flopped down on Rood's bed and picked up the warm teddy bear.

"That's my bed you realize that, right? And put that damn teddy bear down! I wasn't even the one to put it there! That was my stupid older brother…" The smaller boy was once again flustered and the other boy shrugged and set it down.

"You're the one with the teddy bear."

"And get out of my bed!"

"No. I like this one best."

Lidusis sat with the two Hadelio siblings under a large tree, listening to the oldest one complain.

"He's just a damn delinquent! That Baldwin guy is such a jerk, I just don't see what the others get so excited about." Chevel spoke angrily before taking a bite of his sandwich and grumbling. The gray-haired boy smiled but thought back to his encounter and spoke up.

"He wasn't so bad when he was helping me…" Lidusis gave a soft smile at the memory of him quietly and gently, yes Shicmuon, helping him figure out some of the issues in his work.

"Wasn't so bad?! Are we even talking about the same person?!" Chevel looked at the gentle boy before getting sacked over the head by his little sister.

"Don't be rude to Lidusis. Geez, you're so hyper." Ibriel gave a little huff at her older brother with a cute pout, ignoring the scowl Chevel gave her. Lidusis look between the two childish kids before giving a soft laugh.

"He stayed and helped me with my project… with the magic sources. He didn't have to." The gray-haired boy tugged on his bangs a little as he watched the others.

"You're still doing that? Did he help you get any further?"

"I think… I think I am almost at a breakthrough." Lidusis gave small smile when Chevel sighed reluctantly.

"Perhaps that Baldwin isn't all that bad… Hey, are you going home on the weekend or are you just going to stay here?" The older Hadelio looked at the other boy who merely shrugged. Ibriel brightened and gave him a grin, her hands gently holding a cup of tea.

"Then you can come home with us! Dad won't mind and we can play video games past midnight!" She beamed brightly at the prospect of playing video games with her two favorite people. Lidusis wondered what Rood and Dio were going to do. Dio stayed at school but what about Rood?

Rood packed some of his school supplies into his backpack when he noticed something.

"Where's that damn teddy bear…"

The shadows moved as the day passed, the students' excitement for the weekend began to be uncontrollable. Kids cheered when it was time to go, buses and cars ready to drop off the students. Rood stood with Lidusis, waiting to get into the bus, Dio standing with them mournfully to see them off as he was an all year around student. Ibriel and Chevel waited with them as their ride had not yet arrived.

"Hey Rood, are you going to the festival? It supposed to be one of the best festivals in the Kansi country!" Ibriel asked curiously as she tied her hair up in a ponytail. Rood looked at her and shook his head.

"I see no reason to." The questioned boy gave a shrug. No point going to a festival by yourself.

"You should come with me and Lidusis then! Oh. Chevel's coming too I guess."

"I guess? What am I, chopped liver?" Chevel gave a huff at his sister and crossed his arms. Rood thought about it before nodding.

"I don't see why not," Rood glanced at Dio whose eyes seemed to sparkle."I suppose Dio, you can come with." Dio grinned but his shoulders dropped at a realization.

"I'm not allowed to leave the school if I stay the weekend. If I were to spend the night at a friends house though….!" The cheerful boy gave the short boy a hopeful look.

"Fine… Just don't be a pain." Rood sighed and shook his head. Dio, on the other hand, was ecstatic and cheered loudly, eliciting some odd looks from the other students. Lidusis gave a soft laugh at the cheerful boy's antics. Ibriel clapped at the conclusion brightly. She could tell that Lidusis made some good friends just as much as Chevel did. It certainly eased some of his worries.

The bus arrived and Rood and Dio climbed on before finding a seat near the front to sit at. The smaller boy sighed at his friend's excited chatter. He hadn't, however, noticed a certain roommate of his climb into the bus after him.

Shicmuon went to the back of the bus, his eyes, however, staying on his roommate, curious to see where he lived. As the bus drove off, dropping people off their bus stop, it soon arrived to Rood's home. The auburn-haired boy watched the get off the bus and enter the home, his curiosity satiated for now.

As Shicmuon stepped off the bus, he walked into the large building. He ignored the people around him, the security stopped talking when he walked in and looked at one another in silence. The entrance radiated money. A beautiful receptionist waited for any questions on command, the flooring was a rich red carpet, and the electronics available were all up to date.

Despite all this, the tall boy walked into the elevator and rode all the way to the top floor which held an expensive condo with a skyscraper view, new technology only available for the rich, and silence.

"I'm home…." Shicmuon muttered to the empty household, part of him wondered if anyone other than him and the maids ever entered this building. Ah. That's right, Van. He shook his head and walked to the back of the condo, into his large and empty. It consisted of nothing but a desk with a few pencils and notebooks, a bed, and a couch that overlooked a large windowed balcony.

Shicmuon set his bag on the couch before opening it up and taking out a warm and fluffy teddy bear that belongs to a certain blonde roommate of his. With a huff, he walked to his bed and laid down before holding the teddy bear above him. He rolled to his side before setting the teddy down and shut his eyes, waiting for the exhaustion to overtake him.

"Can you get off me now." Rood looked at his older brother in annoyance.

Kiel just so happened to have been hiding in the kitchen from his paperwork when he saw him and Dio come in. As he had never seen Rood with a friend before, not to mention it had felt like years since he had been at school, He immediately swept Rood into a tight hug. While crying dramatically much to Rood's annoyance.

"I'm just- just so happy to see you. You even have a frieeeeeeeeend!" The tears seemed to increase and the wails got louder. Ren walked into the living room and sighed at the sight. Dio was at the side with tears at the touching sight.

"Sir, you need to get back to work. You would like to go to the festival tomorrow with Rood, yes?" She gave a small smile when Kiel immediately put his younger brother and walked back into his office. She gave a sigh before turning to Rood.

"Welcome home Rood." Ren smiled at him and Dio.

"Thank you, Ren. Dio will be spending the weekend with me because tomorrow, us and a few other friends will be going to the festival together." He put his bag on the couch before walking into the kitchen to look for a snack.

"Alright. I'm glad you have made many friends. Master won't be likely able to go to the festival tomorrow anyway with the way he's going."

"What?!" Kiel poked his head out with a horrified look. Ren sighed and shook her head before walking to the office and ushering him back in. Dio watched curiously before turning back to his friend who was currently making three sandwiches.

"Oh, those look so goooooood~! Can I have one? Pleaaaaaase."

"Obviously. Unlike you, I can't eat three sandwiches by myself."

"Then who gets the third one?"

"My brother." As Rood put the sandwiches on each plate before bringing one of them into Kiel's office as Ren walks out.

"I brought you a sandwich." He set the plate on his desk next to the pile of paperwork that crowded the rest of the desk.

"Just the person I wanted to see! I need to talk to you about something." Kiel smiled at Rood and gestured to the chair in front of the desk.


	9. The Fair Comes Around

Shicmuon laid in bed when the intruders walked into to his room. He kept his eyes shut as he listened to them, annoyed by his nap being interrupted.

"Where is it?" A feminine voice said annoyed to their partner-in-crime who gave an annoyed sigh and spoke in a raspy voice.

"The energy reader says that it is here so it must be they have to be here."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Shut up or the human will wake. Their Royal Highness should be here." Those were the last words that the raspy man spoke as Shicmuon sprung out of bed, pushing himself up with his arms, his foot slamming into the man's face effectively knocking him out. The woman took a jump back, her body tensed.

They watched each other carefully, Shicmuon, now standing shifted barely towards her and she dashed towards him with a knife. He lep to the side grabbing her arm and flipped her over his shoulder, slamming her into the ground. She attempted to push him away by kicking him in the stomach with both feet. He grabbed her feet, picked her up, and swung her into a wall. The wall cracked under the harsh force and the intruder's body crumpled to the ground weakly.

Shicmuon shook his head and grabbed his phone before dialing a number.

"Hey old man, I got some strange visitors looking for a royal highness."

Rood sat down in front of his brother and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I wanted to see how school has been going so far! You've already brought a friend home too! I'm just so happy!" Kielnode clapped his hands together happily while his younger brother rolled his eyes.

"School has been fine. I know pretty much everything they're teaching me. I guess it wasn't that hard making friends."

"No one has bullied you right?! No issues?" Kiel watched his brother worriedly, and the younger boy only rolled his eyes.

"No. Don't be stupid, as if." Rood's mind thought back to his roommate and he shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

"Are you calling me weak." Rood's face was blank and his older brother sighed and shook his head.

"Of course not," He smiled gently at him and pulled his sandwich plate closer to him. "I'm glad everything is alright."

Rood stood up and gave a little nod before turning around and leaving. He walked to his room in which he found Dio, staring at the sandwich.

"Just eat the sandwich for the love of god." Rood put a hand on his hip and Dio snapped his head upward.

"No! It's yours!" Dio crossed his arms and looked away determinedly.

"It's fine. Just eat it, I'm not hungry anyway." Dio uncrossed his arms and looked at the sandwich hesitantly.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

The moment he was given the affirmation, he chowed down on the sandwich. Rood shook his head and sat on the end of his queen sized bed, watching his friend gobble it up as if he hadn't eaten in days.

"You're such a pig."

"Wh- hey! Rood why are you so meaaaaan!" Dio cried, food speckled around his mouth. Rood grabbed the napkin from under the plate and held it out to him.

"Well, it's true. You have food all over your face. Wipe it off." Dio blushed and took the napkin, wiping the access food off. He gave a glance at the closet before looking back at the smaller boy.

"Um, so I might've gave a look around the room and-"

"You know curiosity killed the cat."

"And satisfaction brought it back! Why do you have a dress in your closet?" The moment he mentioned it the room became heavy, Rood pursed his lips. Dio, however, was quite oblivious and looked at his friend curiously.

"...It was given to me as a joke so I threw it in the closet."

"Oh. Okay!" Dio smiled at him cheerfully before looking out the window, excited for the festival the next day.

Ibriel stood in front of the mini-market as her brother stood in line, waiting to pay for their drinks when she noticed a stunning white-haired girl walking on the sidewalk. The girl's lightly done make up only enhanced her beauty, enrapturing most people that looked at her. Ibriel's head turned as the mysterious girl passed her.

Iel, the white-haired beauty, was walking past Ibriel when a man turned from an alley and the two collided.

"Ah, shit." Iel took a couple steps back to keep herself from falling and bumping into Ibriel who grabbed her shoulders to keep her steady. The man apologized and looked down at Ibriel before holding out his hand.

"You know, pretty ladies like you shouldn't swear." The man gave what was supposed to be charming while Iel just rolled her eyes and was about to tell him what she thought about that when the golden-haired girl interrupted.

"Oh get fucked." Iel gave a loud laugh as the man's eyes widen and took back his hand. He squared his shoulders and gave a scowl when Chevel finally walked out of the mini-mart.

"Is there a problem here?" The older brother looked down at the man who quickly shook his head and turned around. He watched the man flee before he turned to his sister with a raised eyebrow. His little sister gave a grin while Iel looked between the two. She turned to Ibriel and gave smile as she flicked her hair over a shoulder.

"Thank you for your help," She turned to Chevel, "And yours too." Her face was blank when she had looked up at the boy, unlike her gentle smile at the girl her age. She calmly walked away as Ibriel had a light blush flitted across her cheeks.

"Aw look at you, blushing because a cute girl smiled at you." Chevel snickered as his little sister punched his arm.

"Shut your face."

"Remember that time when a girl said your outfit was cute an-"

"Shut your face! Jesus, you're like a plunger. Always bring up old shit." Ibriel glared at her older brother who cackled.

Rood sat on the edge of the fountain, his hair being blown softly by the late summer wind. Dio ran around the town square, playing with the children. Children would jump on the blue-haired boy's back, playing a make pretend of conquering the beast.

As much as Rood was mean to the playful boy, he really did care about him and couldn't help to feel warm inside as he watched the boy play. And the warmth certainly wasn't the heat.

It was mid noon when Rood and Dio got to the meeting place that the group had planned when a certain gray-haired boy was spotted walking towards them. With him, however, was Dirod. Rood waved to catch the quiet boy's attention and smiled when Lidusis saw and gave him a gentle smile.

Once Lidusis got to him he gave a quick look to his brother as he held onto his opposite sleeve. Dirod smiled charmingly at Rood, a smile that only made his younger brother's stomach twist.

"I won't be staying with your group but do be careful with yourself. Lidusis is the bringer of bad luck after all." Once his older brother spoke he turned around and started to walk away, the shy boy looked down at the ground. Rood scowled at the boys back before noticing Dio stick out his leg in front of Dirod, promptly tripping him. Rood burst out laughing when the mischievous blue-haired boy crossed his arms and looked down at the older boy on the ground.

"I may not be a cactus expert but I know a prick when I see one!" Dio huffed and ran towards Lidusis who giggled softly at his mean older brother as he picked himself up with a huff and stalked off. The childish boy gave the taller boy a large hug before looking up at him.

"Dio's right. And besides, the only bad luck is that asshat." Rood stood up and gave Lidusis a smile.

"Who's an asshat?" Chevel walked up to the group with Ibriel who was searching through the bag for her drink.

"Lidusis's brother." Rood looked at Lidusis carefully. The boy glanced at the direction that his brother went from before looking back at his friend and gave a slight wave towards the golden siblings, Ibriel waved back her face glowing.

"At any point let's get going. And we can meet here if we end up being split from the group." Rood glanced at Rood who had wandered off, distracted by a butterfly.

The group started walking through the large crowds, stopping every so often to look at a stall that had been placed up. The stalls contained a large variety of items from food to jewelry to toys, a souvenir was to be found. The group stopped at the view of a large crowd. In the front was a stage of belly dancers, their movements were entrancing and even Rood stopped to watch as their body twisted to the rhythm. It wasn't until the end did he notice a familiar face in the front of the crowd taking pictures of the dancers. Without thinking he pushed through the crowd before grabbing the arm of the photographer.

Shicmuon looked away from his camera to see who was bothering him.

"...What are you doing?" Rood looked at the camera curiously then back up at the older boy.

"Taking pictures."

"Why."

"Cause I can?" The two stared at each other. Shicmuon gave a huff before looking back at the camera.

"Why do you care anyway?" He looked at the younger boy who blinked and merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. If you're not doing anything important then do you want to wander the festival with me and my friends they should be at the back of the crowd- Huh? Where did they go?" Rood looked back to where his friends had originally been and they were now missing.

"...Let's go find them. I'm not busy." Shic looked where Rood was looking for his friend. The younger boy in mention looked up at Shic with a small smile before grabbing his wrist.

"We said if we got split we had decided to go back to the central area." Rood tugged him through the crowd, the older boy followed, surprisingly, obediently.

As they were walking towards the central area a woman's lovely voice called out to them.

"Lovely gentleman, may I do your fortunes?"


	10. And the Group gains a Member

Rood stopped and looked over to see a young woman smiling. The two boys looked at each other before turning to walk to the fountain, completely ignoring the woman.

"W-wait! I won't make you pay or anything I swear!" The woman held out her hand slightly. Shic groaned and the two looked at each other. Rood then tugged the older boy to the psychic and they both sat down in front of her.

"Thank you for stopping I just- It seems like your lives are certainly going to be important! So I couldn't help but want to see more!" She clapped her hands together happily as the two looked at her skeptically.

"Right. Whatever." Shicmuon rolled his eyes and looked at Rood as if asking if they could leave already. The younger boy shook his head and he sighed. The young fortune teller clapped her hands together and the two looked back at her. She held out a jewelry-clad hand.

"Can I have your hand please?" She smiled sweetly as Rood hesitantly gave her his hand. She shut her eyes to concentrate as she held his hand gently.

"I see… a difficult future…" As the older boy watched he gave a credulous snort and Rood smacked him with his free hand. Shicmuon gave a huff and crossed his arms. She ignored them and continued to speak.

"You will have many struggles however there seems to be a bright light that stands in the middle of it all. While it will be difficult there is someone that will stand by your side and stay there. Paths will reveal to you and in the end, you will pick the correct one. A fate seems to be bringing you down a difficult path but the path will end in happiness…. And that's all I can see." She let go of Rood's hand and Shicmuon rolled his eyes.

"How vague." He huffs but gave another scowl toward Rood as he received another swat.

"Of course. Do you think I would be stuck in this alleyway if it wasn't?" She sighed and shook her head. Rood, however, gave a gentle sigh before smiling at her.

"Thank you, ma'am." The young woman smiled back before giving a nod.

"Oh, and if it means anything, the two of you are quite entwined which usually means lover or close friends. Rood's face gave a flush while Shic groaned.

"I'm stuck with him?" Rood gave him a scowl before pushing him out of the alleyway.

"Get moving meathead."

"Short Stack."  
"Oblivious idiot!"

"Overthinking munchkin." The two stared each other down as the fortune tell laughed softly. Rood turned around to look however the moment his body had turned the mysterious woman was gone.

"?" The crowd was changing ever so often perhaps she had slipped through there? However, as much as Rood tried to assure himself, she was gone with her table and chairs as well.

-  
The two arrived at the fountain, no one yet to be found. Rood sat on the edge of the fountain while the other chose to sit on the ground. They sat there in silence as they listened to the laughing crowd that shifted from vendor to vendor.

"So why do you have a camera anyway."

"To take pictures." The younger boy rolled his eyes at the response and sighed.

"Okay but why do you take pictures and I swear to god don't say because you want to." Rood glared down at the now smirking boy.

"But what can I say? I just wanna." He gave a laugh as the other groaned.

"Dick…"

"Oooh~ name calling. Terrifying." Shicmuon kept smirking as Rood scowled and swatted at him.

Suddenly Rood stood up at the sight of Lidusis when suddenly he was shoved into the fountain. Shicmuon stood up and grabbed the arm of the assailant who had quickly tried to run off. The assailant turned out to be one of Dirod's lackey's. Rood stood up and got out of the water, his clothes melded to his body. The water slowly escaped from the fabric as the gravity pulled it out.

"I guess he didn't quite like looking like a fool earlier." Rood sighed and waved his hand in a shooing manner towards the boy and Shicmuon. The taller boy shrugged and let go of the lackey who in turn ran off to report back to Dirod.

Lidusis quickly ran to his young friend, his chest tightened at the sight of the dripping boy. At the sight of a lackey, he clearly recognized, his throat constricted. Chevel, Ibriel, and Dio ran quickly behind him.

Rood looked at his worried friend and shook his head. Before Lidusis could speak, the younger boy put a hand up.

"I'm fine. It's just water. Besides this just means I have an excuse to make him regret it." Rood ran his fingers through his hair in a weak attempt to dry it. The other boy gave a sigh, Lidusis's chest released from its tight embrace and he gave a soft smile.

"Why did you let him go?!" Chevel who had just caught up looked at Shic. In return, he merely looked at Rood.

"Because if we beat him up now I can't humiliate him with validation."

"Vali- what?" Chevel shook his head and sighed, "Never mind it doesn't matter. I honestly don't think I would be able to understand anyway."

Rood shook his head before looking around. Once he found a clothing store he started walking to it.

"I'm going to get some clothes so I change out of these wet ones. You can come if you like." The others followed him into the store, each splitting up to look at the clothes in their own boredom. Rood grabbed an outfit at random before walking into a clothing room.

As he took off his sopping wet clothes he looked at his outfit before looking at the clothes. He gave a sigh before taking off his shirt when he noticed something stuck to it. He pulled it up to his face to get a closer look, carefully unpinning it to get a closer look.

"What the hell is this….?" Rood gave a shrug before tossing it to the side. He took his wet shirt and folded it neatly before setting it to the side. He looked in the mirror and looked down at his binder, deciding whether or not he should take it off or not.

'I don't think my chest is that noticeable…. Well, it's not that wet and I don't have a bra or anything else in hand so I'll just keep it on.' With a shrug, he pulled the new shirt on. However, when he went to put on his new bottoms he realized he had grabbed a skirt.

"... ugh. Oh, hey it has shorts underneath… I guess that's not that bad." After getting dressed, he took his wet clothing in hand before leaving the dressing room. Dio looked at Rood before tipping his head curiously.

"Why are you wearing a skirt?" Dio looked at the boy in question who in turn walked towards him.

"Cause I can? Why is it against the law?" Rood walked to the counter to pay for his new outfit and the others started walking to them.

"No, it's just weird for a guy to wear a skirt."

Rood shook his head while he paid for the outfit. The person at the counter took no heed of the conversation as they were too distracted by the festival that was going on outside.

As Chevel walked up with Ibriel, he frowned at the skirt.

"Why are you weari-"

"Cause I can." Rood gave a blank stare at the golden boy who put his hands up in surrender. Lidusis tipped his head slightly to the side before noticing Shicmuon walking up with an annoyed look to a girl who has attached to his side. The girl looked at Rood before raising an eyebrow.

"Why is a boy wearing a skirt. I don't care what people say, skirts are for girls, not boys." She put a hand on her hip, the other wrapped around the grumpy boy she was stuck to. Shicmuon looked absolutely murderous.

"Well I'm not a boy so does it matter?"

"You're a girl? Sorry, you just look like a boy…" She gave a frown while putting a finger on her lip.

"I'm not a girl either."

"But you said you weren't a boy. You have to be one or the other!" She gave a huff. Shicmuon finally snapped before ripping his arm away from her. The girl took a step back in surprise.

"And yet he's here he is. Besides, does it really matter if he's a guy or girl to wear a skirt? And don't you have better things to do than stick to some random person's side like a stray dog?!" Shicmuon gave a glare at the girl whose mouth hung wide open. She stood there like a gaping fish before tearing up and running out the store. Rood looked at the scowling boy.

"All this over a skirt. Thanks, Baldwin."

"I didn't do it for you, it was just uncomfortable to have her touching me." He gave a huff before walking outside. The shorter boy gave a shrug, a small smile on his face before following him out. Ibriel looked at her brother who gave an annoyed look.

"He should just take the thanks. Honestly, does he have to be such a jerk about it?" Chevel gave a huff. His younger sister gave a small laugh before turning to him.

"He's just being shy, isn't he?"

"Shy?!" He gave Ibriel a look who in turn laughed even more before walking out. He shook his head before reluctantly following. Dio looked at Lidusis.

"I guess it really isn't that big a deal if he wears a skirt. He looks cute in it. Do you think I would look cute in one?" Lidusis looked at the blue-haired boy before nodding.

"Then tell the others to wait for me! I'm gonna go buy one so I can look cute like Rood!" Dio ran back to where he saw Rood grab the skirt before going to the changing room to buy it. Lidusis gave a soft smile before walking out of the store. Rood looked at him before he shifted to see where Dio was.

"Where's Dio?"

"He's buying a skirt cause he wants to look cute too." Lidusis tugged at his bangs slightly before Rood nodded. Dio came out of the store wearing a skirt that went past his knees just slightly.

"How do I look?! Cute!?" The hyper boy had a wide grin and Ibriel gave a clap of her hands.

"You look absolutely adorable!" She giggled and when Dio looked at Lidusis, the shy boy gave a gentle smile before nodding.

Rood gave a half smile before turning around.

"Shall we get going now? Where should we go next?" The others gave half-hearted shrugs and Dio pouted at the small boy's lack of response.

"How about we get some food! I'm thinking something spicy… and maybe sweet foods too like tiramisu and smores!" the blue-haired boy started to drool slightly at the mention and Rood sighed.

"Yeah, we can find all that alongside the trashcan that contains the hopes and dreams of the world. Is food the only thing you think about?" Rood raised an eyebrow at the now pouting boy, is stomach however decided to make its appearance and the shorter boy blushed at the low grumble. Dio grinned and put his hands on his hips.

"I think your stomach just agreed with me!"  
Lidusis gave a soft giggle before his own stomach growled. Rood looked at the shy boy before giving a sigh.

"Let's find some food then. I think I saw some food trucks near the stand with the antique stand." Dio cheered at the decision and the golden siblings gave each other a grin. Shicmuon, unbeknownst to the others had lifted his camera and took a picture of the group. Only Lidusis noticed and he merely wondered if he could gather the courage to get the picture from the intimidating boy.

As the group started walking, it became noticeable that the taller of the group was crossing more distance.

"Guys wait uuuuuup!" Ibriel whined loudly, just in time before they got separated once more. Shicmuon almost kept walking before his arm was grabbed by Rood who ran to keep him from getting separated.

"You guys take longer strides than we do slow down!" Rood huffed and Shicmuon frowned before looking around. He went off to the side, leaving the shorter boy standing there curiously. When he came back he had two skateboards in hands. He held one out to Ibriel and Rood.

"Get on and hold our sleeves, we don't have time to wait, I'm hungry." If not for the blank look, the others would have thought he was joking. Rood burst out laughing and took a skateboard, Ibriel grinned and took the other, wrapping an arm around her brother's and looked at the shortest boy. Shaking his head, he put the skateboard down and grabbed Shicmuon's arm.

Lidusis giggled at the sight and tapped the auburn-haired boy on the shoulder before gesturing to the camera. Shicmuon though for a moment before taking the camera off from around his neck and held it out to the shy boy.  
With a soft nod, he took the camera and gingerly lifted it to take a picture of the group. Ibriel and Rood gave a peace sign, Chevel snuck his hand behind his sister's head and gave her bunny ears. Dio dabbed in the middle and received a weird look from Shicmuon who didn't know what he was doing. At the sight of the photo, Lidusis gave a giggle and put the camera around his neck.

As the group started walking, and some rolling, they were about to step onto the road which had all the food trucks when they were stopped by an annoying voice.

"There he is! That's the boy who called me a stray dog at the clothing store!"


	11. In which Rood and Shicmuon pick fights

The group turned around to see the girl from before. Shicmuon rolled his eyes at the group she had behind her, clad with bats and vicious grins. Rood stepped off the skateboard and looked up at the older boy. The two gave a nod to each other before stepping up in front of the others.

"So that's how you're going to play it. After all, fighting is the only way a true man can speak to each other." The girl's brother spoke as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. Behind him, 3 guys stepped up, goon 1, goon 2, and goon 3. Also, to be known as G1, G2, and G3 in the mind of Rood. Shicmuon didn't even bother to remember them.

"Although... I don't fight girls!" The brother pointed straight at Rood, "So please step back! Women should leave the fighting to men!" The younger boy scowled and took a step forward.

"Asujen. He's mine." A vicious grin spread Rood's face. Shicmuon looked over before giving a slight nod.

"Fine. But only because he seems annoying to play with." The auburn-haired boy crossed his arms before looking at the 3 goons. Rood grinned at the taller boy before stepping up to the Brother.

"No- I said I wasn't going to fi- "Before he could finish his sentence Rood has stepped up quickly to him. He grabbed the brother's arm and twisted Rood's own body so that the arm was over his shoulder. He slammed his foot on the boy's ankle and used that force to upset the boy's balance and quickly flung him over his shoulder, slamming him harshly into the ground.

Shicmuon, on the other hand, lets G1 step forward, swinging his fist to punch the tall boy. The auburn-haired boy took a swift step to the side, the goon unable to stop his momentum kept forward. Shic swung his fist directly into G1's stomach with such force that the boy threw up and fell to his knees. Ew.

The brother stood up on shaky knees. Rood watched and didn't stop the boy from getting up; he would need a handicap against Rood of course. The sister stood there with a hand over her mouth, surprised that her brother was losing. As the brother stood up shakily he shook his head and got into an actual fighting stance.

"I'm glad you're actually taking me seriously. Good plan." Rood smirked and watched the man's movements quickly. He stepped forward before swinging his right arm, aiming for the small boy's face. Rood stepped to his left, then quickly slamming his fist into the brother's face. The man fell to the ground, unconscious and blood running from his nose.

"Took you long enough." Shicmuon stood there with his hands in his pockets. G2 and G3 had attempted to corner him however the tall boy took a quick step back. They hit one another instead. Classic. Shicmuon stepped forward and slammed his foot in their stomachs before kicking them into the ground. They stayed down when they noticed that their leader was out of it.

"If I were you, I would scram." Rood stepped towards the girl who took a step back. She took that as her cue to run. She left behind the goons who quickly collected their leader. They ran with their tails between their legs.

"That... was awesome." Ibriel stood there, one foot on the skateboard, the other on the ground. She grinned at Rood who looked at her and simply shrugged.

"Honestly it wasn't that exciting. I'm sure the people that have been following us since the beginning will bring more interesting things." The small boy had a sly smile across his face and Shicmuon merely snorted.

"Sickly student my ass." He walked up next to Rood and crossed his arms, both of their backs facing the others. While the golden siblings looked at each other in confusion, Lidusis chewed his nails. Dio frowned, looking at the crowd as if he could spot the people that had following them for so long.

"I'll be back. You guys go somewhere crowd, Baldwin go with them and make sure they're sa-"

"No." Shicmuon glowered at Rood stared at him blankly.

"What?"

"There is no way I 'm protecting a bunch of weaklings and I'm especially not letting you go have all the fun without me." The two stared at each other before the smaller boy huffed.

"What are you- I am not going to have fun! I'm going to-"

"You're to pick a fight, right? I wanna beat some faces in too."

Rood shook his head, covering his face in his hands.

"What even- You're so weird! You weirdo! Fine!" With a huff Rood turned to the group, his face hot with anger, "Don't get yourselves killed!"

"...Why is he getting mad at us? And I still want food!" Dio puffed his cheeks out in a pout and Ibriel giggled. Rood gave him a look, a look that most mothers would give their children who continued to disobey their mother. The blue-haired boy looked away quickly and Lidusis stopped biting his nails to give a smile.

"Now go on! Remember, stick together and go somewhere crowded!" Dio and Lidusis nodded and Chevel rolled his eyes.

"What are you our mother?"

"No, but I can beat your ass!" The two scowled and Chevel crossed his arms.

"Alright, Mom."

As the duo walked into a damp alley which isn't as dark as most say they are, on either side a stranger blocked the way, masked by a cloak. The tall boy snicker at them.

"Oh~ How terrifying~ The unknown scary men are gonna kidnap us~ Am I the only person that feels like they're gonna take the edge of the cloak and like, swish it when they turn?" He looked at Rood, a wide grin across his face. Rood looked at the tall boy and cover his mouth in an attempt to smother his laughter. It was not effective.

The stalkers gave each other a look and the tall one sighs, shaking their head. The smaller one rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"This is what you get when you deal with a bunch of teenagers." The tall one nodded and Shicmuon gave another snicker.

"And this is what we get when we deal with creepy stalkers that follow a bunch of strangers around in cosplay." Unable to contain it, Rood burst out laughing and Shicmuon stood there with a proud grin on his face. The tall women gave a growl and stalked forward, cracking her knuckles but stopped when the short man put his hand up.

"Now, Now. We came here to talk." The woman rolled her eyes before crossing her arms with a scowl on her face. Rood shook his head a smile still lingering on his face.

"I came to talk too but this one," He gestured to the boy next to him, "Only came to fight."

"Then how about I fight the tall lady and you talk to chubby over there?" Shicmuon looked at the small boy who only shook his head. Much to Rood's dismay, the strangers seemed to agree.

"Sounds like a good plan to me." The woman gave a grin and the short man nodded.

"I would gladly get the nuisance out of the way."

Rood gave a sigh and looked at the tall boy. The auburn-haired boy seemed pleased, however, glad to have a fight with someone that seemed to be strong. Hopefully, she wouldn't disappoint him.

"Baldwin, be careful, won't you?" The tall boy gave a surprised look towards Rood and frowned when his chest seems to warm slightly. Strange.

"If you're worried about the person getting their ass kicked, then you should talk to the old hag." Shicmuon stepped towards the woman who only gave a loud cackle.

"Then let's begin, shall we?"

The women dashed towards Shicmuon, her fist clenched to punch. The tall boy grabbed the arm and used the moment to swing the women over his shoulder. Before she hit the ground, she used her hand to push her self into a backflip so that she landed on her feet.

She gave a vicious grin as she dashed forward once more, but before Shicmuon could grab her arm once more she slid to the ground and kicked the boy's feet out from under him. He quickly used the woman's shoulders as a springboard and flipped over the woman.

He slammed his foot into her shoulder blade and the women moved forward with the kick. Doing this lessened the force from the attack and she twisted her body to the side and wrapped her arms around his leg. She stood up quickly in an attempt to knock him off balance. Shicmuon only grinned and backflipped before landing smoothly on his feet. Now things were starting to get interesting.

"You're not bad, kid." The woman gave a smirk. Shicmuon didn't respond and step forward before swing his leg in a harsh high kick which the woman blocked yet not without any damage. She jumped back a step to create a distance before observing the boy in front of her.

In such circumstances, many opponents would be sweating even if just slightly yet the boy remained calm. Annoyingly calm. She covered the gap and swung at him yet the boy pushed the fist sideways away from him and swung a right hook, catching her right in the face.

She stumbled back and Shicmuon stepped forward quickly and landed a solid kick in the stomach making her fall right on her ass. She quickly moved to get up when their fight was interrupted, much to their annoyance.

Rood and the short man stood between the two, their talk over. Shicmuon scowled at the small boy and the tall woman shoved her partner to the side, easily overpowering him and throwing him to the ground. As she tried to step forward she was quickly grabbed by the throat. She froze in her spot, her eyes looking down at the deadly small boy in a skirt, not aware that he was a threat. She put her hands up in surrender and Rood immediately let go. When he spoke, his voice was sour.

"Get out of here. Now."

The woman grabbed the short man by the shoulder and pulled him up. She gave a quick look to the small boy before looking back at Shicmuon.

"Next time then." She turned and left, her hand gripping the man's shoulder harshly. Shicmuon said nothing and Rood gave a sigh before shaking his head.

"What did you talk about anyway?"

"That's..." Rood turned away and shook his head, "Nothing."

Shicmuon scowled and crossed his arms in annoyance. The smaller boy began to walk away before he was stopped by the auburn-haired boy who walked in front of him.

"That's the biggest load of bullshit if I ever heard it." Rood grits his teeth before shoving his way past him only to be grabbed by the shoulder. He shoved the hand of and scowled up at him.

"It's got nothing to do with you so leave it be!" This time it was Shicmuon's turn to scowl but the boy quickly turned away. Before the boy turned the corner, the tall boy called out.

"What is with you?! You save everybody yet you won't let anyone save you?" Shicmuon clenched his fist. The small boy turned around angerly and grabbed the taller boy by the shirt.

"I don't need saving! I'm not a damsel in distress!"

"You don't need to be one to need help! Jesus Christ, are you just going to go to your friends pretending like everything is alright? Do you even have a fucking brain in there?" He ripped the smaller boy's hand off of him and held it tightly in his own.

"Oh, and I'm sure you know about how to treat a friend! I doubt you even have any with a horrible personality like yours!"

Rood turned away quickly and stomped away to the food trucks in order to look for his friends. Shicmuon, however, watched the boy leave. When the boy turned the corner, the taller boy turned and kicked a trash can further into the hallway and it flew. Colliding into a brick wall it clattered loudly, catching the attention of a passerby who saw the boy leaving angrily.

"What the fuck are you looking at?!" The passerby's eyes widened and quickly scurried away from Shicmuon's rage.


	12. One Always Needs Rain for Dramatics

Despite the sunny sky and warm weather, Rood's mind was stormy and dark. He walked to the food trucks in deep thought, curious about the conversation and what the man had meant.

"Now then, since they're out of the way having their fun, let's talk." The short man smiled at Rood who in turn had his attention on Shicmuon. The small boy looked at him, calm and composed.

"Who are you?" Rood observed the man who gave a mysterious smile.

"I think you should be asking yourself that. You're so heavily guarded and yet you have no idea." The man laughed at the small boy's clear confusion and continued before the boy could ask.

"I think you have a lot of questions you need to be asking your dearest brother. And soon, because you will be led into a lot of danger and your friends might just be dragged into it. It's quite a pain to hide the death of nobles. They're so fussy." The man laughed, even as Rood grabbed the front of the man's shirt harshly.

"You better back up if you think you can threaten my friends like that to my face!" Rood grabbed the man by the front of his short, his hands shaking. His throat tightened with rage as the man laughed.

"Be careful, little girl, you don't know who you're messing with. My superiors have the world wrapped around their little finger." The man smiled and Rood let go of the man's shirt.

"Then I guess I just need to rip that finger off!" The man cackled once more, the small boy providing so much amusement to him.

"You can certainly try. It'll be… amusement. Now that's all I had to say at this time. Not much, I know. Why don't we go stop the fighting monkey's yes?"

"The only monkey is that gorilla woman."

Rood shook his head, his hands holding sides of his skirt tightly. As he spotted the rest of the group talking he stopped. He took a deep breath before letting go of his shirt and walked to them calmly.

"Rood," Lidusis spoke as the small boy came up to them and Rood gave a small smile.

"Don't be so worried, Lidusis. It was just a petty thief, we got rid of them easily." Lidusis let out a small smile but Chevel frowned, crossing his arms.

"So where is Baldwin?"

"He went home because he was bored." Rood gave a shrug and the golden boy sighed while shaking his head.

"How about we go back to having some fun, yeah?" Rood smiled and the group nodded. Dio cheered with a little bit of sauce on his cheek. The small blond-haired boy shook his head and took a napkin and proceed to wipe the sauce off the blue-haired boy's face.

"Roooooooood! Staaaaaahhhhp! You're not my mom!" Dio gave a pout as Rood rolled his eyes.

"Then stop acting like a kid and I won't have to act like a mom!" Rood relaxed, the tension and his anger from earlier, fizzing away. He followed his friends as they began to move, deciding to let go of the situation for now and simply enjoy himself. Little did he know, Lidusis was keenly aware that something more had happened. At least, that's what his gut was telling him.

Shicmuon was walking down the sidewalks, cars whizzing by every so often, when it started to rain. It began with a slight drizzle before it began to pick up, getting faster and faster until it was a downpour. The tall boy stopped where he was and stood there, his mind muddled and he was too annoyed to try and concentrate.

'Why is he being so stupid? The hell can he do by himself? I'll just have to figure it out myself…. No that's a pain.' The boy huffed and shook his head. Little did the boy know, the house he stood in front of was non-other than Rood's house and Kielnode was home.

Now, when Kiel pulled the blinds, the last thing he was expecting was to see a boy standing out in the rain.

"Wh- Ren! Get a big towel ready! Where is that damn… There's the umbrella." After grabbing the umbrella, the man opened the door, opened the umbrella and walked over to the lost-in-thought boy. He couldn't help feeling that the boy was familiar.

"Hey! Are you okay? Do you want to come inside?" Startled by the sudden appearance, Shicmuon took a step back and looked at the stranger with wide eyes. He stopped and stared for a moment. Something about him seemed…. Familiar.

"…. Who are you."

"Right! My name is Kielnode Chrishi- What's wrong?" The moment the auburn-haired boy heard the name Chrishi, he gave a scowl and crossed his arms.

"Do you know… Rood?" Kiel's eyes widened and he nodded quickly.

"Are you one of Rood's friends? Here, get inside. Get inside." Ushering the teenager in, the tall man quickly shut the door behind them after shutting the umbrella. Setting it to the side, Kiel took the towel from Ren who merely watched them. Her master always had a tendency to pick up stray animals.

"Here, the bathroom is straight at the back of the hallway, you're probably my size. You can wear my clothing while we dry yours. Geez, you're completely soaked!" Shicmuon watched the frantic man, curious as to why this man was so worried about him. And he was acting so motherly that it was almost stifling. With a sigh the boy went into the bathroom.

Rood groaned as he ran home, trying to get there quickly. Dio had decided to go with Lidusis and spend a night with him. Running through alleys at top speed, the small boy got there quickly. He quickly stepped inside and the moment he looked up, he froze.

A shirtless Shicmuon looked to the side when he noticed the small boy. They stared at each other, and Shicmuon scowled at him. He only turned when he heard Kiel walking up to him with a new shirt, the other having had a stain on it.

"What- Why- Huh?" Rood looked from his brother to the tall boy who looked back at him. Shicmuon stopped before giving a wide grin and pointed at Rood.

"He's in some kind of trouble but he won't tell me or anyone else what it is." Shicmuon looked at Kielnode, a now serious look on his face and Rood's mouth dropped.

"Baldwin you bastard! I told you it's nothing!"

"And I told you that that is bullshit! I may be an idiot but at least I can tell when something is not right!" The two gave a stare down until Kiel stood in between them with a sigh. Rood huffed and turned away, crossing his arms in a scowl.

"Rood, if something's going on, at the very least tell me. I understand not telling your friends but I can help- "Before Kiel could finish, Shicmuon grabbed his shoulder and shoved him to the side. Not hard enough to make him fall, just enough to move him to the side.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously? I don't know about the Blondes and the blue-haired weirdo, but Lidusis isn't stupid enough to not notice something happened! And I can actually help! I could do more than him!" He pointed at Kiel who frowned.

"I'm the master of Opion!" The man huffed and Shicmuon rolled his eyes.

"Okay, and? I doubt you have anywhere near the resources that the Association has." Shicmuon crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one leg. Rood frowned and crossed his own arms.

"Yeah, and you have access to the association's resources?" Rood spoke sarcastically and Shicmuon smirked.

"Being a rank one magician there does have its perks." The two siblings looked at each other and Rood frowned.

"You expect me to believe that? You go to my school."

"Against my will. Apparently, my mom wanted me to go to school or some shit." Shicmuon shrugged and it was then that it hit him what made the tall boy so familiar. Kiel clapped at his eureka moment.

"The chairman! That's who you look so much like, the chairman of the Association!" Rood stared at his older brother and Shicmuon scowled and looked to the side, pouting. The small looked at the pouting boy before giving a sigh and covered his face with one hand, yet unable to stop a smile.

"You could have just told me that you were related to the chairman than tell me something so big as being a rank one magician." Rood put his hand down and looked at the boy who was now scowling towards him.

"Why would I want to be related to that old bastard." He gave a huff and glared at Roof who burst out laughing.

"You're just so ridiculous, you know that?"

"Whatever. Besides, it's not like you're a normal student either, Mr. I-am-a-sickly-child-yet-I-can-easily-kickass-no-sweat?" Rood blushed and gave a look to his older brother who looked away.

"I didn't put that there, I didn't even know I was going to Helios until I was told and forced to go the day before. The person you want to ask is my annoying pain in the ass brother over there." Rood pointed to Kiel who sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I had to have a reason for why you missed the first half of the year." Rood rolled his eyes and shook his head before looking at Shicmuon.

"I shouldn't be going either, I'm a rank one magician too." As if he knew, Shicmuon nodded as if this were obvious. Kielnode gave his little brother a slight frown, resulting a raised eyebrow from him.

"What? He told me he was a rank one magician isn't it only fair I told him that I was one too? It's kinda funny though if you think about it. Two rank magicians, the only teenage ones known, and not only do we go to the same school but we become roommates too." Rood grinned, yet his older brother's eyes widen.

"Eh? You guys are… You're sharing a room with an older student?! Oh god, this a mess…. Wait a minute. What about that trouble you're in?" Kiel looked at his younger brother who swore under his breath, having hoped that he would have forgotten.

"I don't- Honestly, I don't know. When I asked him who he was he said I should be asking that to myself. Then he said that I should be asking you that Kiel. Then he said that I was going to be lead into danger and that it was going to drag my friends into it. Also, he mentioned that I was heavily guarded." Rood sighed and leaned back against the door. Kiel covered his mouth and looked down in thought, hoping it was what he thought it was.

"Rood that's…. Don't worry about it. It's nothing. I'll take care of it." The moment he looked up, Kiel was put into a headlock by Shicmuon.

"Do you know how fucking tired I am of being told it's nothing when it's literally something?" He held him down and Rood nodded.

"They threatened my friends. Do you really think I'll just let it go? I'm not a kid!" Rood scowled and put his hands on his hips. Kiel is about to speak up in defense when he finally notices that Rood is wearing a skirt.

"Are you wearing a skirt?" Shicmuon lets go with a groan, tired of the trailing off and the fact that people get so worked up over someone wearing a skirt, "If you're not against wearing a skirt then why won't you wear that cute flowery dress that you threw in your closet?"

"Because these have shorts attached to them, see?" Rood pulled up his skirt to reveal the shorts, making her brother frantically push the skirt back down and gave a look towards the tall boy. Shicmuon looked at Kiel and rolled his eyes.

"Don't lift up your skirt! And you! Put your shirt on already!" Kiel fussed when Rood noticed that he was in fact, not wearing a shirt. When he noticed the blush on his younger brother's face, Kiel immediately covered his Rood's eyes with his hands.

"I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like he hasn't seen me in only my underwear." Kiel froze and Rood pulled his hands away from his face which was a bright red.

"WHAT?!"

"It wasn't like that! I accidentally walked in after he had got out of the shower!" Rood covered his face, completely embarrassed. His brother stared at him and Rood sighed and dropped his hands.

"We share the same dorm room okay? It has an attached bathroom for some reason." The small boy looked at Kiel who shook his head and gave a glare towards Shicmuon.

"Don't let my innocent little brother see you naked again got it?" Kiel looked at the tall boy. The auburn-haired boy rolled his eyes after he put the shirt on.

"I wasn't even naked. You're utterly ridiculous- Hm?" Shicmuon pulled out his buzzing phone before answering and bringing it up to his ear.

"What do you need Old man," Shic spoke and Van sighed on the other side of the phone.

"I have some information on those people that snuck into your house."


	13. Information is Told and Withheld

"So, who the hell are they?" Shicmuon held the phone to his ear, thinking back to the people who interrupted his nap in annoyance.

"Well, they're from the Plairus kingdom," Van answered looking down at the report.

"From Plairus? What the hell are they doing here then?" While the tall boy had his back to them, Kiel looked at Ren.

"No idea. When we attempted to interrogate them, they swallowed a pill and died."

"What the hell?" Shicmuon scowled and tapped his foot, "What is this, a goddamn movie?"

"You swear too much…" Kielnode grumbles under his breath with a frown and Rood rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, we are searching up with what we have but… Be careful won't you?"

"Right so today these people were stalking this group I was hanging with-" Before the tall boy could go further he was quickly interrupted by his superior.

"Wait you were hanging out with people? Like, with friends?! You made friends?!"

Despite being unable to see Van, Shicmuon couldn't help but feel like the older man was grinning. How annoying.

"Shut up. Not the point."

"Is too! Our rascal, antisocial beast of the Association made a friend! And not just one but multiple!" Van laughed cheerfully, pleased to know that the boy made friends.

"Will you fucking move on now?! Jesus Christ…." The auburn-haired boy glared a hole in an innocent hall as he waited for the laughter to stop.

"Yes, sorry. Right, what were you, heh, saying?"

"There were people following us but their intentions were with only one of us." Shicmuon spoke, looking away from the poor wall. He pushed away Kiel, who was leaning in trying to hear the conversation. The man crossed his arms with a huff and pouted when Rood attempted to muffle his laughter.

"You?"

"No. I think the people from before were related to this instance. I had this teddy bear from the person they were trying to get to- "

"You're the one who took that god damn teddy bear?!" Rood interrupted the tall boy who sighed and looked down at the smaller boy.

"I wanted to dissect it to see why it was so warm." Shicmuon put a hand on his hip and rolled his eyes when Kiel gave a gasp.

"Not Mr. Fluffington!" Rood groaned and covered his face with his hands, embarrassed by his idiotic brother.

"Fluffington? Really?" The tall boy stared at the man who merely pouted and looked away.

"Anyways….?" Van spoke, hoping to get the rest of his information.

"Well, it seemed they were using something to track him and so it's probably connected. But they spoke to him and since it certainly not nothing-"

"Are you seriously still going on about that?"

"Yes! It's like you think I'm an idiot!"

"You mean you aren't?" The two stared each other down with a scowl before Van interrupted loudly.

"ANYWAY." Shicmuon gave a huff before continuing.

"They basically threatened to kill his friends-"

"Wait that means you're being threatened too!" Van gave a pretend gasp, amusement clear in his voice.

"How many fucking times are you people going to interrupt me. I swear to god I will break something."

"Sorry. Continue please." Van stopped his teasing, knowing that the boy would definitely do as he said he would.

"And that he was going to be lead into more dangerous things. Today was only the beginning." Shicmuon heard the sigh on the other end of the phone and waited.

"That's not a lot of information to go on, are you at your friend's house now?"

"Yes."

"So he is your friend!" Before Van could say any more, Shicmuon snapped the phone in half. The siblings stared at him and the scowl on his face.

"Why-" Before Kiel could say any more, he was given a glare by the tall boy.

"No."

"Right…" The room was silent for a moment until Rood spoke up.

"You mentioned something about two people that were looking for the teddy bear?" Rood looked at the older boy who nodded.

"They were probably looking for you, but they broke into _my_ home." Rood's eyes widen as he stares at the older boy.

"Wait- you mean something dangerous happened and- "

"Okay, you are the last fucking person I want to hear that from right now, little miss. Mr. I'm-going-to-pretend-nothing-happened-to-someone-that-was-right-there. I'm not _that_ much of an idiot." He scowled down at the small boy who looked away and pouted.

Once again, the room was quiet. Kiel looked to his secretary who merely shrugged and shook her head. Kiel looked between the boys before sighing.

"Well, Shicmuon, do you want to stay the night or…." The older man watched him look at him in surprise before shaking his head.

"No, I'll just call a taxi." Shicmuon pulled out a second phone that he had just in case he broke his phone. Kiel tried to ask but simply shook his head, a bit weary.

"Alright…"

As Shicmuon called the taxi, Kielnode and Ren walked into a separate room to talk. Rood watched the older boy before realizing that he was still in wet clothes. Before he could walk into his room, he stopped when he heard his brother and his secretary speak.

"Master, you have to tell him at some point. You can't keep hiding this, especially with what's happening. With the reports coming in about those people sneaking about Rood, it's best for his safety if we just tell him!"

"I can't! I just… I took him away from that life to protect him. I can't just throw him back in there! We have two guards by him already! Plus if he befriended Shicmuon then-"

"Kielnode Chrishi that life has already caught up with him! Rood isn't a defenseless little kid anymore!" Ren crossed her arms and shook her head at the older man. Kiel paced the room while he nibbled on his nails.

"I know…. I just… I at least wanted to give him as normal a childhood as I could… Can we at least wait until the end of the school year?" He looked at Ren who shook her head sighing.

"I can't stop you, Master."

Rood took a step back from the door and looked up at Shicmuon. The older boy looked up from his phone and raised an eyebrow. Shaking his head, the smaller boy went to his room to change.

Shicmuon watched the small boy retreat, curious to know what happened but left at the honk of the taxi. When he opened the door the clouds had opened, light shining through them. He gave a sigh before entering the taxi car.

When Shicmuon stepped out of the taxi and went to walk into his building, he noticed a familiar group of people standing by the entrance talking to one another.

Lidusis looked over and gave a smile to the auburn-haired boy. Chevel and Ibriel hadn't noticed him and continued to bicker while Dio stared through the glass door in awe of the rich building.

"I can't believe you didn't charge your phone last night!" Ibriel spoke angrily at her brother, her hands on her hips.

"I did! The stupid charger only charges in a certain position and my phone fell somehow during the night. At least I _brought_ my phone like a certain idiot who left hers at home!" He watched as her sister gasped before swatting at her brother.

Shicmuon sighed before stepping in between the two, stopping any further transgression. Lidusis gave a soft laugh at their surprised look, Dio still distracted by the surrounding richness. Chevel gave a huff and crossed his arms, glaring at the auburn-haired boy.

"You stay out of this! You having nothing to do with this!" Chevel huffed, his anger only rising when the other boy rolled his eyes.

"You're standing in front of the door to my home so unless you're going in, can you move?" Chevel blinked before shooting a look towards his now laughing sister. He gave a huff and stepped to the side. The only blockade now was a blue-haired boy. Before Shicmuon could say anything, Lidusis tapped his shoulder.

"Do you have a phone charger we can borrow?" It wasn't until the boy wiped his wet bangs from his face did he notice that they were soaking wet. With a sigh, he nodded. The shy boy gave a smile and tapped Dio's shoulder and gently guiding out of the way.

"Yeah, come with me. You can dry off in my home." Shicmuon opened the door, ignoring Dio's happy gasp. The group followed the tall boy silently with the exception of Dio who looked around excitedly.

When the group entered the empty home Shicmuon dropped his keys on the counter before going to his bedroom.

"Hey, Baldwin, you live here?" Dio followed him, looking at everything except where he was going. The smaller boy bumped into Shicmuon who stared at his pillow. A familiar cat lay sleeping on his pillow. When the hyper boy peeked at what the other was looking at he gasped.

Dio swiftly got in front of Shicmuon and pushed him out of the room and shutting the door in a panic. He rushed over to the cat which stirred, looking up at the boy.

"Sir?! What are you doing here-" He was quickly interrupted by a dangerous intent. He whipped around and stared at Shicmuon who glowered down at the small boy.

"Hey, you…. Did you seriously just push me out of my room? After I let you into my house? Did. You. Push. Me. Out. Of. My. _Room?"_ The tall boy glowered down at Dio who shrunk, his instincts clearly telling him to run. He gave a look to the cat as if asking for protection but the cat gave a yawn and went back to sleep. He decided the best course of action to survive his mistake.

He pleaded.

"I'm so soorryyyyyyyyy! I didn't think don't be maaaaaad!"

"I can see quite clearly that you didn't think," Shicmuon sighed and ran his hair through his hands, "Whatever, tell me why this cat is in my room."

"Um…. Cause you peaked his interest?" The two boys stared at each other. Dio rubbed his sweaty palms on his skirt, hoping that he wasn't going to be beaten.

"What-" Before Shicmuon could inquire further, they were interrupted by Ibriel holding a couple of photos.

"Hey, did you take these pictures? They're so cute!" The taller boy walked to her quickly before snatching the photos of dogs and cats. The girl gave a pout, crossing her arms.

"No need to snatch." Shicmuon stared at Ibriel, his temper starting to rise.

"I let you people into my house and I get pushed out of my room and you invade my privacy?! What next?! Hey other blondie, are you going to break something important of mine next?!" Chevel looked up from his phone and opened his mouth to retort when there was a crash.

Eyes went to Lidusis who looked up from the camera he had dropped in his attempt to return it from his care. The shy boy froze. He grabbed the front of his shirt as he quickly crouched down, trying to pick the pieces up frantically. He gave a gasp and dropped the broken shard of the lens. Ibriel and Chevel went to go to him but were blocked by Shicmuon who stood over Lidusis.

"Hey wait it was an accident! Don't be mean to Lidusi-"

"You shut up," Shicmuon bent down and took the shaking boy's hand gently, "Let me see your hand."

Lidusis watched the older boy look at the cut on his finger. Once he realized that he wasn't going to be yelled at, the gray-haired boy looked down at the ground.

"Sorry…"

"It's fine I can easily buy another one. The only thing that matters is the Sd card and it's fine. Come with me, I have a first aid kit in my bathroom." Lidusis followed him quietly as he pulled out the first aid kit and bandaged up his finger.

"Thank you." He spoke softly and Shicmuon patted the boy's head. When they walked back into the room, Chevel's phone buzzed by the wall.

When he went to look at the message Chevel stood up and unplugged his phone.

"Our ride is here." Ibriel gave a huff and crossed her arms, wanting to stay for longer but sighed when her brother gave her a look. Shicmuon gave a nod as he carefully picked up the broken camera.

"Did you want to change clothes?" The auburn-haired boy asked but Chevel shook his head.

"Nah, we aren't far from home. Thanks though." Shicmuon gave a nod and went back to cleaning up the mess as they left, Lidusis reluctant to leave the mess.

Shicmuon sighed at his, once again, empty house. He looked around his condo, trying to find the cat before shrugging and pulling the sd card out of the camera. He walked over to his computer and inserted it after he turned the computer on. Pictures slid by, one by one until he stopped at the last picture.

On the screen was the picture the group had taken with Rood and Ibriel on the skateboards and Chevel giving his little sister bunny ears with his fingers. He smiled amusedly at his confused face in the picture, he himself still curious as to know exactly what Dio was doing with his hands. He gave a shrug and sat back.

The colorful imagine made him sigh and he stood up, ready for a long nap, unaware of a black crow in the background.


	14. Crushes Galore and a Field Trip

It was another sunny day at Helios, the weekend was over and the students had to drag themselves out of the bed and to class. It was any other day.

He couldn't help himself from worrying about his friends and he spent the day hyperaware of his surroundings. It was only during lunch time when Shicmuon walked up to him outside, an annoyed look on his face, did he finally relax.

"Is there a particular reason you're overly aware?" He put a hand on his hip and Lidusis looked at Rood, having worried about his friend all day. The small boy looked up and sighed. He shook his head and Shicmuon rolled his eyes.

"Oh, let me guess… Nothing?" Rood sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"I'll tell you later."

"You might as well tell me now, considering Lidusis will chew the rest of his fingernails off in worry. And be quick before the fool comes back." The tall boy sat down in front of him, waiting for the answer.

"I just… After the whole incident with those people, I can't help but feel like I'm being watched." Rood picked up a fry from his lunch tray and ate it as Shic thought a bit.

"Hm… The idiot-"

"His name is Dio."

"Okay but you knew who I was talking about though." Shicmuon raised an eyebrow at Rood who gave an amused smile. Lidusis giggles softly at the older boy; Dio was truly a dorky boy.

"Still."

"Fine, fine. So whiny." Shic grins and receives a look from Rood, "Well he's always staring at you. He's so protective. And stalkerish."

"Really?" Rood raised an eyebrow and he nodded.

"The last person you would think was here to protect you but-" He stopped midsentence when he noticed how wide Rood's eyes got.

"Do you think he's one of the guards that guy said I had? Wait no, ignore that. This is Dio we're talking about." The small boy shook his head however Shicmuon thought carefully, before frowning.

"No, it's possible. While he's quite stupid, he isn't without talent. When you were unconscious and I carried you to the nurse's room he followed me. If I weren't who I was, he wouldn't have been noticed. His footsteps were silent and his presence was hidden very well."

"…We are talking about the same Dio right?"

"We are," Shicmuon thought about it for a moment before looking at Rood and tipped his head slightly, "Ain't we?"

"Ain't isn't a word." Rood gave a huff and scowled when the older boy rolled his eyes.

"You knew what I meant didn't you?"

"Yes, but it's not-"

"Case closed." Shicmuon gave a wide grin in amusement as he watched the younger boy give a huff.

"I doubt it is Dio anyway. Even if what he says is true, our meeting was entirely accidental. I met him as he was napping in the garden when I first arrived at campus." Rood crossed his arm and looked at his annoying roommate.

"Okay, but what if he was. He just so happens to nap in the garden the same day you arrive at the same time? Very coincidental." He watched the younger boy scoff.

"That still seems far-fetched- Wait why am I discussing this with you? You're just being the devil's advocate."

"I'm not."

"Are too!"

"Nope."

"Yes."

Before the two could continue, the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Lidusis looked between the two, noticing that they seem to have gotten closer. He felt a sudden aching pang in his chest.

Rood sat there at his desk, the room filled with sounds of pencil scratching on paper amidst the silence as he finished the test they had been taking. At the last question he stood up and walked to the front before placing his paper on the table. As he went back to his seat, a lot of others stood up as well to turn their paper in.

He thought back to the beginning of class when Khan mentioned that they had a big announcement for the class, annoyed by the fact that he had to wait until the end of the test. Rood wasn't the only one that waited impatiently, it coming clearer as the number of people working on the test went down. All of the students eventually would look around the classroom to see who was left. Finally, the last student, Dio, finished and Professor Khan stood up from his desk.

"Is everyone done? Alright then, now that everyone is done, please allow me your full attention." Professor Khan watched the class as they cleared off their desks, waiting patiently. Once all eyes were on him, he finally sated their curiosity.

"Now, I'm sure you all have been very curious about what my announcement is and so here it is. Next week, we are going on a short trip-" He was interrupted by the excited chattering of the students and stopped, waiting for silence once more. Dio, who had been about to fall asleep had perked up almost instantly.

"Yes, so we will be going to a museum in the capital-" He stopped before talking loudly to try to get the attention back to the front, "Yes, yes, I'm as excited as- I'm just as excited. The Hereis will go along with us as we will be going around to a few main companies. The ones we will be going to are Opion-" He was interrupted yet again, excited chatter and he merely smiled, pleased to watch his students look so happy and animated. Once the whispers died down, he spoke up again.

"As well as the Tower and the Association. The purpose is for them to see some of their more, uh, influential job options, or to at least see what these particular groups do that might give them an idea as to what they themselves might want to do." Professor Khan received blank stares before he spoke up again.

"It's to help them figure out their future. Helios does this twice for a student. Once in their first year here as Iduns, and then lastly as Hereis." He smiled as the students began to speak all at once to each other, the excitement clearly beginning to fill the room.

Rood frowned and considered the trip. He would have to call his brother to make sure the people wouldn't react to him… He didn't want any more unnecessary eyes on him. But the Association… he couldn't help but be curious by the situation that Baldwin- no, Shicmuon had lived that could make him grow up to be so… so annoying!

Shicmuon sneezed, before frowning and rubbing his nose slightly before looking up, frowning at their new teacher. In the front of the class stood a pale blue-haired man the observed the class with a cold disposition.

The class murmured to each other, excited after being told that they were going to have a field trip as well as from the curiosity of the charming man that stood in front. Chevel leaned towards Shicmuon curiously and frowned.

"Who do you think that guy is?" The auburn-haired boy glanced at the man in front and shrugged.

"Who cares?" Shicmuon thought for a moment before frowning.

"Well I do," the blond-haired boy just gave a sigh and shook his head, "I don't know why I bother trying to befriend you…"

The other boy frowned at that. Befriending him? Shicmuon looked at the teacher for a moment.

"….He does seem familiar…. Maybe?" He tipped his head as he tried to think, the other boy was pleased that he got a response and shrugged.

"I think I've seen him around here before. Like, walking around campus." Chevel glanced at their teacher for a moment before Shic shrugged.

"I guess that's why he's familiar."

Shicmuon had completely forgotten about his encounter with Lispen when he had brought Rood to the nurse's office.

Ibriel looked through the books in an attempt to find to find the latest research that came out. She had seen it on the internet and she noticed the mention of creating magic. She figured that Lidusis might appreciate it. After all, he was still trying to figure out that little project of his.

Just as she found the book and reached out to it, her hand brushed another hand. She looked over to see the pale girl from the festival.

"Ah, I was hoping that I might see you once again." Iel spoke softly, a small smile gracing her lips, "I never did get your name."

Ibriel blinked, her cheeks tinted pink. It took her a moment to realize that she was in fact talking to her before her blush deepened.

"Ibriel! Er, my names Ibriel." The blonde held out her hand and Iel took it gently. Ibriel flushed by how soft the other's hands were.

"My name is Iel. It's a pleasure to meet you. And thank you again for helping me with that guy." The white-haired girl let go of the others hands with a smile and Ibriel shook her head.

"I didn't really do anything." She scratched the back of her head, flustered by the thanks.

"You helped in your own way." Iel gave her a smile and Ibriel's mind went blank. What a pretty girl….

They stood there a moment, a slightly awkward silence before the golden girl spoke up again.

"So, you're interested in um, researchy stuff?" Ibriel looked at the other girl, hoping that her lame conversation starter would work. Iel nodded in return before taking one of the books from the shelf.

"I'm trying to become a higher up in the Tower. I need to get good grades and become a better magician of course so I study and learn about Magic whenever I can." Iel looked at the other girl, a small smile flittering on her lips.

"Wow… I don't even know what I'm going to do… My brother is going to follow in our dad's footsteps and inherit everything so I don't really know what to do. I've always liked the thought of opening up a bakery or being a diplomat or something." Ibriel twisted her hair around her finger while in a mindless thought. She was shaken from her thoughts when she hears a laugh that sounded to her like an angel's laugh or the twinkling of bells.

"Those are two very, very different job ideas." Iel covered the grin with her hand, but she couldn't hide the amusement from her eyes. The blonde laughed as well.

"They are, aren't they? My brother gets so annoyed whenever I'm stuck on a decision. He's really good at helping me figure it out. Even if he does complain the whole time" The two girls giggle again and before looking at each other with a smile on their face.

Ibriel grabbed another copy before hesitating. There was a cute girl in front of her that didn't seem annoyed by her. She didn't know if she was gay or not but she can at least be friends…. Time for impulsive outburst caused by lack of thinking!

"Do you wanna hang out sometimes?" Ibriel looked over at the other girl who tipped her head slightly, "I mean, you seem really cool and stuff and well, I've been studying abroad for a while and I don't really have any female friends yet but if you don't want to then I totally understand after all we've only met two times and-"

"Sure. That sounds like fun." Iel smiled at the rambling girl before pulling out her phone.

"R-really?" Ibriel could feel her heart pounding in her chest, a grin spreading across her face. Iel nodded.

"I don't really have any friends so I would be glad. Can I have your phone number as well?" Iel held out her phone to her. The phone revealed the new contact screen and Ibriel happily typed in her number.

"No way, how can you not have friends? You're so pretty and you seem super cool and smart!" The blonde held out the phone and Iel took it back with a shake of her head.

"They don't seem to quite like me. I don't have much time otherwise. I spend a lot of it studying and the like." Iel looked down at the phone and holds it up before quickly taking a picture to set as the contact picture.

"Wha- hey! I look so dumb in that picture…. Why don't you go to Helios instead? Unless you already go there… I think I would have noticed you though…" Iel shook her head.

"No, you look cute. And I don't think my parents would let me transfer. Especially not to Helios… It's not… It hasn't been in its prime for a few years now." Iel looked over at her new friend before covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. Ibriel had arms crossed and her cheeks puffed out in a pout.

"That's so lame! Helios will become even better than it was before! There's a guy in my class named Rood and he's super talented! Then there's also my childhood friend named Lidusis and he's really smart and kind but really shy. There's also my brother and I and we studied in Plairus which is known for its advanced magic! And- And…. Oh! There's also a guy in my brother's class named Baldwin! He's pretty strong in magic stuff! He seems scary but I think he's just bad at socializing!"

Iel couldn't help but laugh at the sweet girl before her. The other girl looked at her with a puppy-eyed look.

"Alright, alright, I can try to convince them, but seriously, don't get your hopes up." The white-haired girl couldn't help but smile when Ibriel cheered loudly before covering her mouth when she was given an evil look by someone reading in a chair nearby.

"I hope you can convince them…!"

When Shicmuon opened the door, the last person he expected to see was Ibriel standing there with a bag from the bookstore in one hand and a bag of sweets in the other.

"…." They stared at each other before the tall boy shut the door on her.

"Hey! Baldwiiiiiiiiin! Lemme iiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!"

"No." Shicmuon turned to go back to his laptop before there was a barraging of knocks on his door and he sighed once he realized that she wasn't going to stop until he opened the door. What an annoying girl.

He opened the door once more and scowled at her.

"What."

"I'm here to hang! I brought snacks!" Ibriel held up the hand with the sweets and Shicmuon thought about it.

"…..Is that…. Sour gummy worms?" He peered at the bag curiously and she grinned in response.

"Of course! They're my favorite!" She grinned and he nodded before stepping aside to let her in. He did love gummy worms and Van would never let him eat them… Damn that man.

Ibriel walked in happily and plopped onto the couch as Shicmuon shut the door and sat down in his recliner chair. Ibriel held out a bag of gummy worms and held it out to the older boy who took it and opened it immediately.

"So why are you here. I'm sure there's plenty of people you could be hanging out with. "

"Well, Chevel is studying for a test and he says if I bother him and therefore making him fail his test that he would disown me. Lidusis is busy with the personal project of his and I don't know where Rood is. Oh, and Dio's at the school and there's no way I'm going back to school when I don't have to. Ew."

Shicmuon frowned at the girl before stuffing gummy words into his mouth. He was the last resort.

"and I figured that you would probably be by yourself cause you seem to like that kinda person so I thought I would come by so you weren't lonely!" She grinned at him, taking out a bottle of Coca-cola and opening it.

"I've always been by myself and I like it perfectly fine that way, thank you very much!" He gave a huff and grabbed his laptop. He ignored the look of pity on the other girl's face.

"Always? What about your parents?" She asked curiously and the other boy gave a sigh and looked at her.

"Those are quite the personal questions don't you think? Questions that are none of your business. Ibriel, why are you here." He gave her a cold stare and she blinked, a flush on her face.

"I- I wanted someone to talk to. I-" She sighed and touched her hair absentmindedly, "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I didn't come here to be rude or anything…"

"Then talk." He looked back at his laptop, and Ibriel gave a little pout.

"Okay, so there's this girl that I think is really cute and-"

"No. We are not talking about romance." He gave the other girl an annoyed look and she pouted in response.

"But you told me to taaaaaalk! And there's not anyone that understaaands! Can you imagine me talking to Rood about this girl I have a crush on?"

Shicmuon had to admit, that was a funny thought. A small smirk grew on his face.

"And you think I'm the better choice?"

"Well you have a crush on Rood don't you?" Just as she finished her question Shicmuon got up quickly setting his laptop the side.

"Get out."

"Wha-"

"Out. Now. Fuck off." Shicmuon glared at her coldly and Ibriel crossed her arms.

"No! Don't get so mad just because you thought you could hide it! You two are super close-"

"No, we aren't"

"And you get along really well-"

"We really don't."

"And you're a lot friendlier to Rood than you have been to my brother! Except for maybe Lidusis. He did say you were nice to him. Well he actually said that you seemed very nice and that you helped him with his project but-"

"I do not. Have a crush. On Rood." Shicmuon towered over her yet Ibriel only rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you're in denial. So? I think you and Rood dating would be super cute! I totally ship you two." She grinned up at the older boy who merely gave a weary sigh and sat down on the edge of his couch.

"I don't even wanna know what ship means in that phrasing."

"It means-"

"I said I don't wanna know." He gave an annoyed glance to the side at the other girl who merely grinned in response, "…you said there was this girl you had a crush on?"

"Yeah! She mentioned she didn't have any friends at her school because she spent a lot of time studying and I thought, well if they're so intimidated by her, maybe she could come to Helios? But I'm frustrated because she said that she highly doubted her parents would let her cause Helios wasn't in its prime and stuff!" She gave a huff and crossed her arms.

"Her parents sound dumb."

"I know right? But if there was just some way we could influence them to let her go…" She thought for a moment and Shicmuon merely stared at his ceiling, wondering how he got into this strange situation.

"I think you would like her! She's not super girly or anything and she's like… very calm and stuff! But if you steal her- Don't give me that look I'm serious! My heart would shatter if she started dating someone! Especially one of my friends…" Ibriel gave a pout, unaware of the surprise that she gave the other boy by the word friends.

"…Friends? Does that… include me?" He looked at her curiously and Ibriel looked at him with a frown.

"Well duh. Of course, it includes you dummy! Why would I hang out with someone I'm not friends with?" She watched him and smiled at the clear surprise on his face, "I'm not the only one that considers you my friend. Here, watch this."

Ibriel turned on her phone before creating a group chat of Chevel, Rood, Lidusis, and Dio. She sent a text with the question "Do you guys consider Baldwin as your friend?"

The first person to respond was Dio.

Of course I do! Even if he is a little mean sometimes. -Dio

The next person was Lidusis.

Yes. I don't think he's mean… -Lidusis

Rood was next and Chevel answered last.

Yes. -Rood

Shicmuon eyes widened before frowning when his heart fluttered slightly.

He's totally a jerk. But yeah, I consider him my friend. Why are you asking this? -Chevel

Ibriel rolled her eyes at her brother before setting her phone down, ignoring her brother's question.

"See? You don't really need to be alone anymore! It's okay if you want to though. People are exhausting…" He gave a snort at her words before shaking his head.

"Sure, whatever."

Despite the fact that Shicmuon would never admit it, he was glad that she did it. He hid the small smile behind his hand before dropping both the smile and his hand before looking at his friend.

"What did you say her name was?"

Iel couldn't focus on the book she had bought, her mind wandering to a certain cheerful blonde. There was no way they would let her move schools, her mind wandering to the rants her parents had about Helios. She gave a sigh. She would have to settle with dreaming about it.

"Iel, you're transferring to Helios." Her mother strode in, a pleased look on her face.

Or not?

"Wh- What?" Iel's usually calm demeanor was traded for wide eyes and a slacked jaw.

"Oh don't be so disgraceful and close your mouth. I'm pleased to know that you have made connections with the Son of the Association, your father received a call from the Chairman and gave our thanks for having you befriend him and lamented that you two were not in the same school. To further your connection to him your father and I decided to transfer you to his school. Unfortunately, it's Helios… but considering the money- ah. Well." Iel's mother walked away, closing the door to her room.

"….What the fuck?" Now she wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth but what just happened? She didn't even know that the chairman of the association had a son. Regardless, she was happy by the news and pulled out her phone to text Ibriel the good news.

Hey Ibriel, guess what? -Iel

Ibriel was laying on her side, reading the book she had gotten for Lidusis in an attempt to have conversational tidbits for her date- I mean her friendly meet up.

Hey Ibriel, guess what? -Iel

She couldn't help but light up at the text, pleased that she was being texted so soon.

Something good happened? -Ibriel

Something very good happened. – Iel

Ibriel pouted, a knowing that she was being teased slightly.

Teeeell meeeeee!

Well….. For some reason, the Association's chairman thinks I'm friends with his son- not that I knew he had one, and he mentioned it to my dad and now I'm being transferred to Helios?

Ibriel sat there for a moment, trying to think if she ever heard that, if he even existed, then why was he pretending to know her…. Oh!

Maybe he saw you and then got a crush on you immediately! Then he lied or something? You aaaaare really pretty!

I mean… I guess? Ugh, what a pain. I suppose I'm just glad to get a change of schools. I'm trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Ibriel gave a smile ignoring the small twinge of displeasure when she imagined the association's son flirting with her.

You'll get to hang out with me and my friends! You'll be like family I promise! On a side note, do you wanna hang out? I need to get some clothing.

Sure. -Iel

"Okay I got this! This isn't a date! Just two girls…. Hanging out! Two very straight girls." Ibriel gave a nod, fixing her dress in the mirror. She gave a yelp as Chevel passed by her and poked her in the side.

"Really Chevel?" She gave him a scowl of annoyance.

"I'll give you a hint on how to stay calm during your not-date." He avoided his sisters swatting hand with a wide grin before she crossed her arms and look at him.

"Alright, amuse me. What are they?"

"Okay so step one, don't be gay. Oh wait- you've already failed step one!" He laughed at his sister's shout of anger and ran up the steps to avoid said rage.

"Chevel you jerk! I hate you!" The younger sibling shouted on the top of her lungs only to get laughter in return. She gave a huff, stomping her foot when the doorbell rings and she gives a yelp and quickly turns to the door.

She takes a deep breath and goes to the door to open it. Her eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful girl before her, Iel's white hair shining in the bright sunlight.

"Should I ask?" The white-haired girl flipped her long hair over her shoulder, looking at the other girl with an amused look. Ibriel's face flushed as she quickly shook her head.

"Just- just an annoying older sibling." She tugged embarrassedly on a strand of her long blond hair. Iel laughed before stepping to the side.

"Alright, are you ready?" She looked at the blonde before her who nodded, clutching her handbag and pulling the strap back over her shoulder.

"Ready! Let's go!" The golden girl gave a wide grin and walked out the door. This was exciting…! Her first da- Not a date!

The two girls walked through downtown, going to each clothing store they could, pointing out cute clothing and any particular interesting thing they could. Their cheerful chatter never seemed to stop, the topic going from thing to thing. They were stopped however, by a nuisance.

"Hello ladies, do either of you need a strong man to take care of you?" A man looked at them with, what he probably thought was sexy, a grin. Iel rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"We aren't interested, thank you. We can take care of ourselves perfectly fine, thanks." Iel tried to give the man a polite smile before attempting to walk around him. Much to her displeasure, the man shot a hand out, resting it on the wall of the building, stopping them in their tracks.

"Now don't be that way, I can give you a good time."

"No thanks. We aren't interested." Ibriel spoke a bit slower this time, a scowl on her face. Iel stepped in front of her, wary of the man in front of her.

"Don't be so tense, I'm a good guy."

"If you were a good guy, you would take no as an answer. Not to mention if you need to say that you're a good guy, then you probably aren't as 'good' as you think you are." Iel crossed her arms and looked at the man before her.

"You don't have to be such a bitch, if you keep acting like that you won't get a boyfriend." The man glared at her, a scowl on his face which only grew when she scoffed.

"I don't understand why that would affect my chances of getting a boyfriend."

"A man likes to feel superior to you and it's your job to make him believe it." He crossed his arms and Iel only tipped her head.

"Well it's not like I'm stopping him. Not to mention, if he needs my help then he probably isn't actually strong."

The man clenched his fist angrily and she only stood there calmly. Shicmuon, who had been buying snacks, noticed the commotion as well as Ibriel who was giggling behind Iel, and walked towards them.

"You…!" In a rage the man raised his hand as if to hit her but was stopped by a strong hand. Shicmuon held his wrist tightly with a scowl.

"Who- Who the fuck are you?! Back off! This isn't any of your business!" The man tried to pull his hand back but his hand didn't move an inch. Shicmuon ignored the man and looked at Ibriel and Iel.

"Should I beat him?" Iel blinked, curious to know who exactly this boy was saying and was about to open her mouth when her friend cut in.

"Break his nose!" Ibriel grinned when the other boy nodded.

The man jerked back, still trying to get free as Shicmuon put his bags down. Shicmuon straightened before giving a swift punch to face. There was a crunch and he let go of the man who crumpled to ground unconscious.

"….Did I do it too hard?" He tipped his head slightly before squatting next to the man. When he noticed the man was breathing, he stood up with a shrug. He grabbed his bags as a police officer ran up to them.

"What is going on here?" The officer looked stern and Shicmuon sighed.

"A pain…" He muttered under his breath before pulling out his wallet and walking to the man. He pulled out the id card that all Association members must have, and showed it to him. Shicmuon was careful so that the two girls didn't see what he was doing as the man looked carefully, his eyes widening as he read the name it held. Before the man could react Shicmuon held a finger up to his lips.

"I'm undercover." Shicmuon said softly, barely loud enough for the Policeman to hear. He nodded in response to the younger man.

"So, why exactly is…" He looked down at the man on the ground, to the girls, and then back to Shicmuon.

"They were being bothered by this man and then he got mad at them for whatever reasons and tried to hit them so I hit him as a warning. I guess I hit too hard…?"

The policeman looked down at the man before at the boy, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. When he realized that he was, in fact, being serious, he nodded before mumbling a few half-hearted words of warning before leaving quickly.

Ibriel walked up to him and looked at him curiously but Shicmuon merely shrugged. Iel tried to get a good look at the wallet he carried but he had put it away before she saw anything. He turned around and looked at her curiously, trying to figure out who she was before it he had a thought.

"Is the person you mentioned yesterday?" He looked at Ibriel curiously who gave a blush and nodded quickly. Iel looked between the two and when Ibriel noticed her confusion she spoke up.

"I went to his house to hang out because my other friends were busy and I mentioned that I made a cool friend!" She grinned cheerfully when the white-haired girl gave a small smile. Shicmuon snorted.

"She needed someone to complain about the fact that you couldn't come to our school. And that she thinks-" He stopped mid-sentence when he was elbowed by Ibriel, her face bright red.

"You choose bad times to be talkative!" The golden girl's face was flushed bright red and he merely gave her a shit-eating grin.

"She thinks you're cute." He laughed as she smacked him repeatedly.

"Baldwin you jerk! You're so mean!" Ibriel pouted her arms crossed as he turned, holding his sides as he laughed. Iel had a small smile on her face, her cheeks slightly red.

"You said it though." He straightened, the shit-eating grin still on his face. She blushed and looked at Iel before crossing her arms and pouting.

"And I mean it!" She looked at the girl mentioned with an awkward grin trying to appear confident but merely looking dorky. Iel covered her hand with her mouth as she laughed.

"Not as cute as you of course." She grinned at the now blushing girl and Shicmuon gave a snort before rolling his eyes.

"So, what were you guys doing anyway? Are you on a date?" He couldn't help but smirk at their now identical blushing faces. Ibriel shook her head quickly.

"No-no we're just hanging out." The golden girl glanced at the other girl who gave a small nod.

"Well have fun with that and try not to pick fights with people if you can't kick their ass." As he turned around to walk back to his ignoring Ibriel's huff. He stopped when the other girl spoke and looked back at Iel.

"I could have easily taken him out. I'm not defenseless." She scowled at him but he merely rolled his eyes.

"Ah yes, how dare I not know that a total stranger that I've never even seen before can defend herself despite looking like a twig. How rude of me." He put a hand on his hip looking at the other girl with a blank face. Iel's face flushed.

"Baldwin don't be so rude! You need to be nicer!" Ibriel huffed angrily but before Shicmuon could reply Iel held up her hand.

"No- it's my fault. I took it the wrong way." She looked away, and he only shrugged before turning away.

"Sure. Have fun with your date." He gave them a grin and Iel looked back at him with a sigh at his sly grin. Ibriel huffed, her cheeks red.

"It's not a date!"

'If only it was' Ibriel thought while pouting.

When Iel was introduced to her class, Ibriel was glad she was sent to this one. She was not glad, however, that almost everyone was interested. Which was silly, she knew that but that was her friend. They weren't the reason Iel had convinced her parents to go to Helios. She was. Her. Ibriel.

Okay so perhaps that's not entirely correct. She came here to make friends and she hadn't really tried to convince her parents, they decided it on their own.

Speaking of which, who exactly is the Associate's chairman's son? The man was always strange whenever he was shown in official stuff, and he didn't have a particular reason to lie about having a son, there wasn't a point! So… who is his son? And why does he have an interest in Iel?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Iel walking up to her and sitting in the empty seat next to her and she jumped slightly when the girl tapped her on the shoulder slightly.

"Ibriel..? Are you okay?" She looked at her curiously before relaxing when the other girl nodded quickly. Before Ibriel could reply, class started back up, leaving the girl back to her thoughts.

When Shicmuon had gone to his old man to see what he could do about bring Ibriel's crush, he would tell you that he did it because he didn't want Ibriel to come over and complain like she did the last time. The truth, however, is up in the air. Honestly, the chairman was just pleased that his grumpy son had made a friend. Now, however, as he sat down next to Rood at lunchtime, he couldn't help but feel satisfied at the glowing look on Ibriel's face as she introduced Iel to her friends.

"I got lucky, but honestly I am a bit confused to the situation." Iel spoke as she sat down next to her goldened-haired friend and Rood looked at her curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"I hadn't even brought up going here with my parents when suddenly my mom came in my room telling me I was going to Helios. Apparently, at some point, I befriended the Chairman of the Association's son or something." Iel gave a small shrug, flipping her long white hair over her shoulder. Rood frowned and gave a side glance to Shicmuon who merely continued to eat his food.

"I didn't even know that guy had a son. Maybe he saw you and got a crush." Chevel said and snickered at the frown that grew on his sister's face. Shicmuon scoffed and shook his head.

"Or maybe he just had to deal with an annoying girl that complained his ears off about how there's this girl that she wanted to go to her school and figured that the sooner he got her here, the sooner the assault on his ears would end." The auburn-haired boy took a bite of his food, ignoring the odd looks he was given before Ibriel caught on.

"Wait… wait are you… You're the son of the Association's Chairman?" Her eyes went wide and everyone with the exception of Rood looked at Shic with surprise. The tall boy merely scoffed, neglecting to answer.

"Then you…?" Iel watched him carefully, observing his reaction.

"I did it because Ibriel came to my apartment and complained about it. I haven't met you before." He replied, looking at her with a blank face.

"Technically…" Ibriel started before she stopped, covering her mouth as she laughed at the scowl she received from the older boy.

"You know exactly what I meant." Shic gave a huff before crossing his arms in a pout. (Not that he would admit that he was pouting.)

"Well at least we know that it isn't because you have a creepy secret admirer because he has a crush on-"

"Ibriel Hadelio I swear to god-" Shicmuon spoke hotly, his scowl only growing in force as she laughed louder. Rood frowned slightly and looked at the older boy curiously, ignoring a slight pain in his chest.

"You have a crush on someone?!" Chevel had his mouth open in shock before pouting when he got a rough smack to the shoulder by the now frustrated boy.

"I don't have a crush on anyone!" At this point, Shicmuon could only groan as he was met with laughter. Even Lidusis, who had been sitting there quietly the whole time, was giggling. The only person who wasn't laughing at this point, other than Shicmuon, was Rood who couldn't seem to figure out what was so funny. This was noticed by the older boy.

"At least someone isn't laughing…" He grumbled, subconsciously leaning and brushing his shoulder toward Rood's who glanced at the offending shoulder.

"Cause you obviously have a crush on-" Before Ibriel could finish, her mouth was covered by a hand. She looked at Shic with amusement but his face was in an everlasting scowl, his cheeks however, were tinged a slight pink. The smallest boy noted that in the back of his head, although he wasn't quite sure why that was important information for him to know.

Shicmuon rolled his eyes when she began to lick his hand in an attempt to get him to recoil in disgust but he didn't budge. It wasn't until she spits in his hand, did he yank his hand away. With a disgusted look on his face, he wiped the spit off on Chevel who tried to push the hand away but his resistance was futile.

"I don't have a crush on anyone. Period." He only sighed when he looked at Ibriel with her shit-eating grin.

"Sure."

The whole week the school had been filled with excitement and when the day of the field trip finally arrived, the students were bursting with energy. They stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the buses to arrive in the bus lot.

Rood looked around when he spotted Lidusis who sported a worried look. When he walked over to him, he saw Dio throwing his phone up in the air slightly before catching and then looking at his screen.

"Dio, what the fuck are you doing." The boy looked up from his phone before smiling at his small friend.

"I download this app where you throw your phone in the air and the app records how high up it goes! I think the purpose was to break as many phones as they could but I was curious to see how high I could get it!" Rood looked at his friend incredulously.

"…You're a special kind of stupid aren't you."

"Hey!"

Lidusis gave a little giggle, his worry lessening each passing moment that Dio's phone wasn't in the air. Shicmuon walked next to him and looked at the group curiously. Lidusis looks over and smiles at Shic before speaking up.

"Dio got an app where you throw the phone up in the air and it tells you how far it went up." The auburn-haired boy glanced at Lidusis who had answered his curiosity before taking Dio's phone out of his hand.

"Wh- Hey! Gimme my phone!" Dio tried to grab his phone back but was promptly stopped as the taller phone placed his hand on Dio's chest, keeping the boy at an arm's length. Shicmuon checked the screen to see the latest record before giving a snort and threw the phone up in the air.

The group watched the phone fly high up in the air, high enough where you could barely see it. Dio's jaw hung wide open and Rood kept his eye on the phone, ready to catch it at a moments notice. Lidusis's eyes were wide, his hand clenching the front of his shirt tightly.

When the phone fell back down, Shicmuon easily caught it before looking at the screen and grinned. When he went to show Dio the high scoring, the boy snatched his phone away and held it to his chest. Lidusis released the front of his shirt.

"Are you crazy?! You could have broke my phone! I couldn't have afforded a new phone!" Dio looked at the older boy horrified and Shic tipped his head, his face revealing slight confusion.

"I caught it?"

"But what if you didn't!"

"There is no possible way I wouldn't have caught it- you threw your phone too?" Before Dio could retort Rood put his hand up between the two of them.

"How about we just agree to delete the stupid app to begin with." The smaller boy put his hands on his hips and gave the blue-haired boy a look who in turn grumbled and tapped at his screen to delete the app.

Shicmuon still looked confused, after all he did the exact same thing as the other boy so why did he get so upset? Lidusis glanced at his senior before gently patting his shoulder and giving him a small smile. The boy looked at him and in reply gave a little shrug.

The buses began to drive in at that moment and stopped close to the sidewalk. Professors stood in front of each respective bus before calling their class to the bus. Dio looked over to professor Khan when he saw the other professor that stood next to him, not yelling but merely keeping his hand up.

"That guy…!" Dio muttered under his breath, unable to keep the anger from his voice.

Shicmuon looked at him curiously and the feeling of Lispen's familiarity only grew. For the love of god where the hell has he seen him before? It would bother the boy until he forgot about it which only took the five minutes to get settled in the back of the bus.

"May I sit next to you?" Lidusis had walked up shyly before standing next to the seat the older boy was sitting in. Shicmuon merely shrugged and gestured with one hand to the empty spot next to him. With a smile, the gray-haired boy sat down next to him.

With Rood at the seat across from them, Dio sitting next to him who was whining about not getting the window spot and the Hadelio siblings sitting in front of his seat, Lidusis was happy, surrounded by friends.

The bus drove through the city, loud with chattering students excited at the beginning of their trip. Their first stop wasn't far, Opion being just outside the outskirts of the large city. The buses drove up to the building, parking near the front of the parking lot.

As the students got off the bus, they looked around excitedly, the large building stood proudly, and despite being on the outskirts, there were still tons of people in and outside the building. While the building wasn't as large or as vast as their school was, it was still an impressive building and was far taller.

They students spoke loudly to one another, wondering who they might see with one particular favorite.

"I hope we see the Black Magician!"

Rood looked off to the side before sighing and shook his head. Shicmuon looked at him before giving a soft snort.

"Now that won't happen will it?" Rood scowled up at the older boy before shaking his head.

"No. Although… I wouldn't put it past my brother to try something." The small boy shook his head as the other laughed.

"I'm glad no one will want to see me at the Association. After all, no one likes a beast." Shic gave a lopsided grin but Rood frowned.

"You aren't a beast. Annoying? Yes. Beast? No." The auburn-haired boy gave him a surprised look, before hiding the small smile behind his hand.

"Whatever you say short-stack." Rood sighed at the nickname before shaking his head. The two looked up when they noticed Professor Khan speaking loudly and gestured for the large group of students to come closer.

"Now everyone, we are going to split up into groups okay? Please listen as your groups are being called." The students looked at each other and listened carefully and each name was called. Much to Lidusis's satisfaction, he was partnered in a group consisting of him, Ibriel, Iel, Chevel, Rood, Dio, Shicmuon, Linus, and lastly Lapis.

"I just want this to be over." Shicmuon grumbled and Rood looked at him in confusion.

"For what to be over?" Rood looked around as if to see what was annoying the boy but Shicmuon said nothing and merely gestured vaguely to everything.

"This field trip literally just started. Relax."

"How do you relax when you're surrounded by a bunch of people?" At his response the smaller boy merely sighed and shook his head.


	15. Skating is easy said the liars

Rood wandered the halls that he knows like the back of his hand, and he was unable to help the boredom from showing on his face. It didn't help that Linus was asking their guide a million and one questions about him. Or in more correct terms, about the Black Magician.

It was uncomfortable.

It was easier to deal with the other new person in his group that he didn't know, Lapis. He was clever, to say the least and certainly knew a lot but listening to him and Chevel argue was grating on his ears, a headache was forming.

"Says the guy who's only talent is memorization!" Chevel shot back at Lapis for whatever the other boy had said. He was tired of this shit and he was tired of that guide looking back at him almost as if he was waiting for him to punch something. Rood slowed his steps so that he walked next to Shicmuon and touched his arm gently.

"Please make them stop fighting. Kick them in the ass, I'll back you." Rood looked up at him with a calm expression and the older boy smirked at him.

Shicmuon walked closer to Chevel before giving him a swift kick in the ass. He used the bottom of his foot to lessen the blow to a more friendlier kick but twas a kick from Shicmuon nonetheless. Chevel gave a yelp and fell to the floor.

"Stop arguing because we are all sick of it. Also, you're pathetic I barely kicked you." The auburn-haired boy looked down at him and Chevel gave a huff before getting up.

"That's not true, you just don't know your own strength… and if he wasn't so annoy-" He stopped mid-sentence with another yelp as he received a kick in the side of the leg from Rood. Rood looked up at Lapis who watched the two warily.

"I'll kick you too. Stop acting like little kids." Rood gave him a scowl but relaxed when Lapis nodded.

"I'm sorry, I did get a bit over the top without any regards for the others. My apologies." Lapis gave a small bow and Shicmuon patted the top of his head gently, making him receive a confused look.

"You're less annoying than he is." Shic gestured to Chevel with a frown which was received with a laugh from Lapis and a huff from Chevel. Rood took a deep breath and looked at Lidusis who he noted had relaxed once the arguing had stopped.

Linus and Dio hadn't noticed. Both were curious to know about the Black Magician, perhaps with different intentions.

"…what did he mean when he said you were only good at memorizing?" Shicmuon looked at Lapis curiously and the boy gave a sigh in response.

"I've studied plenty and plenty of theories, I've read books and watched blogs and everything in between, and I understand the general sense of activating magic-" He was interrupted by Chevel who rolled his eyes.

"He can't do any magic." He said, ignoring the swat he got by his sister.

"Be nice Chevel!" She was ignored.

"Well, it's true. He should be a Hereis but he's stuck as an Idun because he can't even activate a practice sword." The older Hadelio spoke with a huff and almost felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the shame on Lapis's face. Almost. Shicmuon looked at the embarrassed boy curiously.

"Not even a little?"

"Not even a little… I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I know the theories and all that I just-" The auburn-haired boy interrupted.

"Aren't you just thinking too hard about that? Magic isn't just a theory you know." Shic looked around and frowned when he noticed the stares he received, "What?"

"You? Being helpful because you can? Lean down." Rood looked up at Shic with a frown. He couldn't help but be pleased when the older boy leaned down obediently. He shifted his sleeve up before resting his forearm on the taller boy's forehead who immediately stood back up when he understood what was going on.

"I'm not sick. And I can be helpful when I wanted to. Besides Magic is something I'm actually good at." He huffed at the smaller boy who gave him a smile in return.

"I'm sure you're good at plenty of things like," Before Rood could continue, Dio interrupted.

"Like fighting!"

"And you talked pretty well to make the Police officer go away!" Ibriel mentioned with a grin which dropped when she received a quick look from her older brother, "What?"

Rood looked at Shic with a raised eyebrow. He blushed however when Shic leaned down and whispered in his ear.

"It's easy to make a police officer go away when you're a rank one magician with temper issues." Shic leaned back up with a smirk on his face while Rood gave a small laugh and shook his head. Iel looked at them curiously, something itching in the back of her mind.

"Wait, why did you have to talk to the police?" Lapis spoke curiously, his hand raised as if he were in class. Shic looked at him with a shrug.

"The girls had to deal with a creepy guy that then tried to smack them so I hit the guy to break his nose. I ended up knocking him unconscious though." He gave a careless shrug, before glancing at Ibriel who laughed.

"For a moment he thought he killed him." Everyone looked at Shic who merely shrugged.

"He didn't get back up. He wasn't dead though he was breathing."

The group seemed to stand there for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly was going through the tall boy. Shic frowned at the look of disbelief that he was receiving and crossed his arms.

"What?"

"….I'll test that theory out later when I can," Lapis spoke hesitantly, unsure what to make of him.

"Baldwin…. I don't think we should be going in here…" Chevel looked from side to side, wary of the trouble the two could get in. They had just stepped into a small room that was attached to another much larger room. The only thing separating the two rooms was a wall of strong glass.

The larger room was empty. Completely. Was this really the training room of the famous Black Magician? No way…

"Now let's see how to start this thing up… ah. So it's just like the one back home. Good." Shicmuon murmured under his breath softly and ignored the look Chevel gave him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm turning this thing on. I want to use the training program so I can see what the Black Magician's training session would be like."

"Oh. But wait… they don't start up until someone is in there so-" He was interrupted by the careless wave of Shicmuon's hand.

"Obviously. I was going to go in there. It would be fun and I haven't had a fight in a while. I'm bored."

Chevel's mouth was wide open as he stared at the auburn-haired boy who merely grinned from ear to ear.

"You're crazy!"

"I know, isn't it great?"

"No!"

Shicmuon only replied with laughter while his friend looked like he was about to yank the hair out of his head. When Chevel had mentioned that he wanted to see what the training system that the black Magician used to keep in shape, that didn't mean he wanted to see his friend in the middle of it!

"You're going to get hurt! Get back in here! Please!" Chevel tried to grab the back of the other boy's jacket but he moved quick enough out of reach before shutting the door between them with a slam.

"Nah." The system started to whirr as the pieces clicked into place to reveal a humanoid machine. When a small sword appeared in its hands, almost holographic-like, it ran towards Shicmuon at an insane speed. Chevel shrieked covered his eyes with his hands when there was an audible clang.

When he peaked between his fingers, he dropped his hands in shock as he saw his friend holding his own against it with a thin kind of sword. He watched them clash, Shicmuon responding with fluid movements, as if an expert dancer, the grin never leaving his face.

Step, slash, slash, clang. Step, dodge, slash, block, step, swirl.

Despite his worry, the golden-haired boy couldn't help but be entranced as he watched which made him fully unaware of his surroundings.

"What, may I ask, is going on in here?"

Chevel gave a yelp, his heart already pounding at the sight of his friend fighting a machine that was as skilled as a rank one magician. He turned around quickly to reveal the Master of Opion, Kielnode.

When Kiel was notified on his phone that the system he set up for his little brother had turned on when Rood was standing in front of him, he had quickly rushed to what he assumed would be a very unsightly scene. He was not, however, expecting to see the boy he pulled out of the rain, his face lit up with emotion he had not held the previous day.

"He- um, I had said- and he-" Chevel was panicking. The master of Opion was in front of him and his friend was behind him doing something that he certainly was not supposed to be doing. He relaxed slightly and patted his shoulder.

"It's alright, I've met that one out there before. He'll be fine. Probably."

"Probably?! He's just a student! He hasn't even awakened yet!" The older man looked at the blond-haired boy in surprise before shrugging it off before walking to the startup set and putting in the code to turn it off.

Needless to say, Shicmuon was not pleased when the machine fell to pieces and looked over with a scowl. The sword he had held in his hand vanished as did the machines. He walked over and through the door between the training area and the safety section before stopping in front of Kiel who gave him a grin in response to the boy's clear annoyance.

"I couldn't let you keep giving your friend and anyone that walks by, any more anxiety." The older man couldn't help but be amused when the older boy's scowl turned into a pout.

"Whatever…"

Now before Kiel had left, he had been

"Well, I figured that today we might have fun and do roller skating!" Kielnode smiled brightly and the groups merely looked at one another curiously. They were here to learn how to be a strong magician like the black Magician! So why, may they ask, are they at a large rollerskating ring? A student raised their hand.

"Aren't we here to see how it is like to work in Opion?" They looked at the Master of said company who nodded brightly in return.

"Yep! But roller skating is fun, plus it helps with stuff like balance and figuring out how you can adjust to different circumstances. My bro- the Black Magician did this when he was first training his body. Plus he just did not childlike stuff… So I thought it would help him learn to socialize properly!"

So it was true. Kielnode, the master of Opion, is a giant weirdo. But hey, the students weren't going to complain. Not everyone got a chance to rollerskate.

Soon students were grouping off, some skating on their own, some in a group with friends. Shicmuon, however, sat grumpily on a bench. He was fuming. This is a load of shit, this is stupid and there was no way, in any hell, was he going to put wheels on his feet.

He watched as others skated in the ring, a person falling every so laughter, the fallen person's only response was to laugh and get back up. Somewhere better than others, and the beginners were easy to pick out from the crowd as they moved slowly, their arms held out to the side so as to catch themselves if they fell. Others were holding the hand or arm of their more experienced friend who helped them along.

The first person he noticed was Lidusis who was skating pretty well. He was graceful and moved around other people and- oh, he fell. The kind boy merely laughed as he got up and went back to skating.

The next person he noticed was Rood. Who was infuriatingly amazing at. Honestly, what a show-off. He would skate at a fast speed, swerving around people like it was as easy as pie. What a jerk. Now he's skating backwards at such a fast speed. It made Shicmuon want to punch someone, I mean, seriously, at this point he's just showing off with that infuriatingly pretty grin on his face. Honestly, how dare.

Lidusis hummed to himself as he skated when he noticed Chevel skate up to him. He slowed his pace to match the older boy and looked at him curiously.

"Hey, do you know why Baldwin is just sitting there scowling? He looks like he's going to punch someone." Lidusis gave a quick glance at Shicmuon only to see the boy scowling at Kiel who was bright and cheery. Ah, he flipped him off. At least the master of Opion doesn't seem too put off about it- Lidusis fell again, this time his knees slammed into the ground and he winced before carefully standing up.

"Maybe he doesn't know how to skate?" The gray-haired boy was met with laughter from the golden boy.

"The guy who can do almost anything? The sportiest guy in the school? No way!" And with that Chevel skated off. Lidusis gave a shrug as he neared an exit to get off the stage near the grouchy boy and got off carefully, apologizing as he almost ran into another student.

Shicmuon was glad that annoying man had left when he spotted Lidusis walking towards him. He wanted to scowl at the boy. He really did. But seriously, how can you possibly be so pissed at such a kind boy? He was too nice. It kinda irked Shicmuon actually but that's not really the point.

"Skating is difficult. I keep falling." Lidusis murmured as he carefully sat down on the bench next to the other boy. He received a grunt in reply.

"Um… Baldwin?" The quiet boy looked through his bangs shyly, clasping his hands together tightly in his lap, "Why aren't you skating?"

"Because it's stupid." Shicmuon gave a huff and glared at Rood who passed by.

"… Do you not know how to skate?" Lidusis looked at him and knew that he hit the nail on the head when he saw the boy's face go a flushed red. Bingo.

"So- so what? It's not like I'm going to skate every damn day." The older boy crossed his arms and looked everywhere but at Lidusis. The boy gave a nod in response.

"It's fun when you get the hang of it…" Another scoff.

"Sure, after you look like a giant fool in front of over a hundred people. Sounds great." Shicmuon glared as Rood passed by again. Looking amazing. Tsk.

"There's plenty of people that aren't so good at it. I'm not… I've fallen a couple of times but you just laugh it off and get up. Other people have fallen at least once. There's only one person that probably won't fall do-"

"Yeah, Rood the goddamn show off." He ignored the soft laughter he received and continued to pout. He frowned at the sight of Rood getting off and casually skating towards them.

"Who's a show-off?" The smaller boy asked curiously, giving a small laugh when received a dirty look from Shicmuon.

"I think you know who."

"Sure Baldwin. But why are you guys just sitting here? If you don't move, I'm sure my brother will come back and bother you again. He's pretty good at being bothersome."

"No kidding.." Shic gave a huff and felt slightly better when he heard Rood laugh. Not that he would admit it of course.

"But seriously, why are you guys just sitting there? We are here to skate and have fun not pout and scowl at people. Not you Lidusis, you're being great." He smiled at the shy boy whose face flushed bright red and gave a small smile in response.

"I am _not_ pouting. And I'm not too fond of going up there and looking like a gigantic idiot." He continued to sit there scowling with his arms crossed. What a grump. Rood shook his head before holding out his hand.

"Come on, you're not the only one that has never skated before. There are a shit ton out there." He gestures to the crowd of people, making sure to point out each small groups of people that are holding onto the hands of their friends. In front of them would often be a slight gap until a bunch of skaters went around them.

"I could help teach you…" Lidusis spoke softly, rubbing his wrist slightly as he looked down in his lap.

"I would be glad to help as well. No shame in asking for help you know. And if anyone even tries to make fun of you, I'll knock them down." Rood gave a sly grin and his heart pounded when he heard the older boy laugh.

"I'd rather have Lidusis's help Mr. show off. Not to mention you're a lot shorter than me so that would be awkward wouldn't it?" Shic couldn't help but be amused by the thought of using Rood's head to keep balance. He was sure that Rood would have scowled at him if it weren't for the soft giggle that Lidusis gave. Maybe he saw the humor in it too. Rood only sighed.

"Alright, so long as you get up there." There was a slight annoyance that was in the back of his mind, must have been the comment about his height. It wasn't.

Shicmuon got up hesitantly to get the roller skates before sitting down next to Lidusis again to try and put them on. Just as he went to tighten up to the other shoe, after he had already tied up the first shoe, he noticed that the shoelace was too short and must have broken off by someone.

"Oh… You'll have to get another pair." Lidusis frowned at the shoelace. Shicmuon merely grumbled as he had to untie the other shoe.

"Why does it have to be so hard to take off these damn shoes?" With a final heave, the shoe finally came off.

After finally getting the shoes on with no problem, it was time for Shicmuon to skate. He sat there, trying to bury the feeling of nervousness that he had as he looked up at Lidusis. He held out his arm and helped him up. He was a bit wobbly and he didn't like it. At all.

"Now you have to take steps. Make sure to lift your feet. Yep like that!" Lidusis smiled cheerfully as they started to move forward. He tried to ignore the fact that his heart was beating a mile an hour.

Now, normally Shicmuon didn't like physical touch. In fact, he hated it. It was uncomfortable and can lead you to be defenseless. It was hard to feel defenseless when it was Lidusis though because really, Lidusis? Being dangerous? As if. He doubted that he could even hurt a fly much less muster up the courage to even attack someone. He was far too kind. Annoyingly so.

He tried to concentrate on moving his feet, his feet almost moving out from under him when they got off the carpet and got in the ring. They moved slowly which he appreciated. They moved slowly and others went around them, every so often he would get distracted and his feet trying to slip from under him.

"Step. Step. Step." Shic mutter to himself and Lidusis said nothing. He didn't know if it was him being kind, or just the fact that he couldn't hear him over the loud eighty's music. Either way, he appreciated it.

"God dammit.." He swore under his breath, each time he thinks he has it, his feet are sliding perfectly before catching him off guard. At this point, he was holding Lidusis's hand.

Shicmuon gave a laugh when he looked up from the floor to see Dio, who was attempting to go faster than he should, have his feet slide out from under him and fall straight on his ass with his legs splayed out, next to Rood who wobbles a bit before stabilizing. If Shic wasn't trying so hard to keep himself stable, he would have laughed.

This continued, Lidusis letting Shicmuon hold his arm and he would help stabilize him. Sometimes Lidusis would almost fall but the other boy held on tightly and kept him from falling.

"Ah. Dio fell again. He should really stop going so fast…" Lidusis spoke softly, "Remember that you want to fall forward not backward."

"Hnn." He was too focused on trying not to fall on his ass so his response wasn't really stellar. Then again, he wasn't much of a talker, to begin with. Luckily, Lidusis didn't really mind, he wasn't that great at talking himself and he enjoyed the comfortable silence.

"Wait you really don't know how to skate? What kind of lame ass childhood did you have?" Chevel spoke after he came up to them and slowed to match his pace to them.

Shicmuon gave an annoyed grunt as he focused on the ground, absentmindedly noticing a piece of a shoelace that he would later connect to the shoes that he tried on earlier that was too short on one side. So that's where it was.

Chevel gave a shrug before going on without them, speeding up. Sure, he was glad that he was finally better at something than the other boy but he wasn't going to say anything. It's not like he hadn't fallen that day either. He wanted to though.

"Wait was that a wheel to a skate?" Shicmuon said, turning his head behind him to try and look but he quickly looked back when he started to lose his balance again. It was.

"Can someone grab that wheel?" This came from Ibriel who spoke from next to Shic. Which startled him. The loud voice caught him off guard and his balance was shaken, his feet going out from under him. He made sure to fall forward, causing himself to slam his knees into the ground.

"Fuck…" He grumbled and sighed.

"Whoops, sorry Baldwi-" She stopped midsentence when she fell as well, a result of Iel who lost her balance when the older boy fell and having held the blonde's hand tightly, pulled her down with her. Ibriel burst out laughing, Iel soon joining in.

Lidusis gave a smile as he held his out to Shicmuon when his face grew hot at the boy in front of him. The older boy had a genuine grin on his face, the laughter infectious. While he didn't laugh, he had a bright smile on his face that was rarely revealed.

Shic got up with a little struggle, his feet sliding all over the place. It took him a full minute to get up until he realized he could use the breaks on the front to keep him in place to get up. He never realized that he hadn't let go of Lidusis's hand or shifted it to his wrist.

The quiet boy said nothing about it, too flustered by the fact that they were holding hands. Needless to say, a certain nuisance, Dirod, was not pleased. But he's a dick so really what do we care?

"Really? Falling on your ass like a child? I guess you're not as great as you think you are." Dirod said, laughing as he passed them. Unluckily for him, Rood heard him and did exactly what he said he would do.

He skated up next to the boy and leaned one foot on the break of his skate and yanked Dirod's foot out from under him.

"Don't be an asshole, you wet sock." And with that, Rood sped off.

Lidusis and Shicmuon merely skated around Dirod who sat there, holding his chin that had been smashed into the ground when he fell.

After that, there were no more incidents. Well, except for when Ibriel cheered on the sidelines, cheering Shicmuon on. He ended up falling on his ass, pulling Lidusis down with him. The shy boy flushed bright red when he landed in the other boy's lap.

Rood frowned at the sight but pushed away from the annoyance that grew in his chest.

When they got back it was getting dark out and they ended the day with dinner before leading the students to the rooms they were staying in. Each room had five beds, so five students shared a room. One room held five boys at the request of Rood who really didn't want to deal with anyone annoying. It held Rood, Dio, Lidusis, Chevel, and Shicmuon.

Shic gave a yawn as he stood in the hallway, staring at the window in the hallway while he processed his day. While he had fallen multiple times while skating, he did have fun. He went to go into his room when he was stopped by the disappointing sight of Dirod. They scowled at one another.

"Don't think that I'm just going to take this sitting down. I don't approve of you, and frankly, your behavior is disgusting." Dirod spoke, crossing his arms. His scowl deepened when the other rolled his eyes.

"Yeah sure whatever, look, I have more important things to do that deal with bacteria like you. Now move."

Dirod did not move.

Not on his own accord of course. He moved quickly however when Shicmuon grasped the boy by the front of the shirt and flung him to the side. He stomped into his room, ignoring the shocked boy.

Chevel looked up from his textbook at the sight of his scowling friend. Shicmuon was clearly not pleased.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." The blond boy looked at him incredulously before responding.

"Sure doesn't look like nothing."

"Then stop looking." Shicmuon gave the boy a glare before climbing into the other's bed and turning his back to Chevel.

"I don't mind you sleeping there but that's my bed you know." Just as he said that Rood walked in and looked at Shicmuon before shaking his head. The boys had already chosen their beds.

"There's no point, he does that to me as well. Might as well give up and just sleep in his bed."

Chevel looked at Rood before back at the now sleeping boy before sighing.

"I figured."

It was the middle of the night and most of the boys were asleep except for one. Honestly, it was amazing that the others slept with how loudly Dio snored. At one point, fed up with the noise, Rood got up from the bed and smacked the boy on the arm. While he didn't wake up, the snoring stopped.

Shicmuon stared at the ceiling, waking up from a nightmare. A nightmare that honestly was a bunch of nonsense but still shook him to his core. He had been in a dark land, standing at a dusty plain, the only plants that were there were dead. Probably.

When he turned around there was a cave and he turned back around when he heard a noise. The next thing he knew, he was a little kid again, barely five. And he was surrounded by demons.

Normally that wouldn't scare him. Not even as a little kid, he had been able to awaken for as long as he could remember. But right now, he couldn't. When he tried to turn and run into the cave, his body reacting faster than his brain did, he just ran in place. It felt like he was running through jelly, and no matter how hard he pushed, he never gained nor lost ground.

When he looked up, the demon was before him, its large hand about to wrap itself around him and probably squeeze him to death.

And then he woke up. Classic dreams.

Laying in bed wasn't working. He contemplated hitting Dio again as he got up from his bed.

He didn't.

Walking to where he had recalled last seeing a water fountain to get a drink of water. After he got some water he went to try and see if staring at the ceiling again would lull himself back to sleep when something stopped him.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a small, familiar black cat. He turned his head quickly, just fast enough to see a black tail. He quickly followed.

The cat looked back for a moment to see what was following him before it quickly turned into a room and somehow… the door shut behind the cat.

Shicmuon frowned before stopping in front of the door, hesitating slightly. It took him a minute to realize that he _was_ hesitating before giving a scowl and opened the door before him.

He was greeted with the sight of, well, not the cat. He frowned at the sight of the calm man who wore so much black that it contrasted brightly with his white skin. Shicmuon didn't move a muscle, his eyes caught on the piercing blue eyes before he blinked and the spell was gone. He scowled and made a mental note to think about why that happened.

Raven looked at Shicmuon thoughtfully before sitting on the edge of the desk and folded his hands in his lap. He observed the boy before him who had a close relation to his child.

It was silent between them for a moment before the dark-haired man spoke up.

"What do you think destiny is?"

The younger boy gave a snort and shook his head and the wise man before him gave a small smile. He watched the boy carefully as Shic thought about it.

"The destiny… that people think of is… ah…" He scowled and crossed his arms, unsure as to why his mind was processing so damn slow but continuing to attempt to put his thoughts together, "They think it's out of their hands, but I think… destiny is the outcome of your decisions. Not… It's not a blind road in which you have no hand in."

Raven gave a small nod before standing up again and ruffling Shicmuon's hair who in turn froze, eyes wide. Unconsciously the older boy leaned in the older man's touch.

Raven gave another nod before turning and walking out of the room, leaving the boy completely and utterly confused.

"…Weirdo." Shicmuon scowled yet again in confusion, the dreamlike atmosphere having vanished as the older man left. Why did he respond to such odd questions from a complete stranger? And why had he even asked that?

What a… Weirdo!


End file.
